


Act Two: Prodromal

by Dyeity



Series: Splice Narratives [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Crimes & Criminals, Cyberpunk, Genetic Engineering, Genetically Engineered Beings, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Investigations, Medical Procedures, Minor Character Death, Mystery, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Organized Crime, Science Fiction, epidemic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 08:08:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26848693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dyeity/pseuds/Dyeity
Summary: Frogger continues his investigations into Impetus while Sutton grapples with their new place at the bottom of the world.[A perpetually unfinished novelization of Splice's second act.]
Series: Splice Narratives [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1920862





	1. Burned Out

**Author's Note:**

> I got halfway through converting this from my shitty improvised comic script format, then realized I wasn't going to be publishing a book so decided to stop writing one. I guess you'll have to read a screenplay if you want to know more [whenever I get around to uploading that here], because the webcomic is currently in hiatus.

**WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2270  
8PM - CLEAR  
F6, PALM BEACH - CHAMPION  
RCGD RESEARCH CENTER**

In the dustless lobby of the foreclosed research center, Frogger crouches at the far wall, backlit by the warm evening sun, casting a shadow over the exposed wires of the control panel he’s pried off. A tablet rests on his knee, jacked into the panel and running a decryption program. As he waits, a message scrolls across his vision.

_ This is a bad idea.  _

Frogger pauses to read it, raising a hand to gestures, composing a message in the air in front of him.  _ On the market, nobody here. _

He flicks a finger up to send and it hangs in the air under Izar’s message. The decryption completes with a green ‘Access Granted’ screen, and the wall slides open. Frogger stands, putting away the tablet. 

_ They could be watching the place.  _

Frogger clicks a button on his goggles, and a beam of light cuts into the sterile hallway intersection.  _ Can you find anyone? _

... _ No. _

Frogger takes a cursory glance down each branch before heading straight down the middle.  _ Then I’m fine. _

_ Just be quick.  _

Frogger dismisses the conversation, stepping up to the ‘Rat Experiment Room’ and sliding open the door, gliding along its dead mechanism. The wall of cages to his right are dim, and empty, a discarded stylus here and abandoned petri dish there on the floor before him suggesting a quick exit. He approaches one of the work stations, opening up the access panel under the counter for the monitor. 

The inside is gutted, internal hardware ripped out entirely, leaving a mess of snapped wires and broken circuits. A new message appears across his vision.

_ Your ward is sneaking out again.  _

The words hang over him and his mask whirs loudly. He closes the panel and heads back out the way he came, foot crunching on faintly glowing shards of broken test tubes. 

* * *

**WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2270**  
**10PM**  
**D7 - HIGH WATER**

A group of suggestively dressed youth stand on a walkway balcony, speaking invitingly to passersby. Near the railing, a woman makes progress, talking low to a man leaning in to her. The spell is broken by an argument near the unmarked double doors the youth congregate around, one of them in an argument with an angry man in a fur-collared suit, gesticulating violently. 

The woman at the railing covers her discomfort as the yelling escalates, trying to regain her man’s attention. The furred man grabs the offending youth roughly by the arm, dragging her inside, while the others look anywhere but the entrance. 

Deimos slips inside easily, jacket shifting from the dull building front to the dim light of it’s interior. 

Sutton huddles deeper into their hood as a couple youth call out. They smile awkwardly through their clear mask, and shake their head, walking quicker. 

Once out of range, Sutton’s discomfort dissolves into determination as they stride forward with a purpose. They round a corner, passing Frogger who leans against the wall with his arms folded. They don’t notice him. 

“Where are you going.” 

Sutton jumps, wide-eyed and cringing as they spin on their heel to face the robotic voice. Recognizing Frogger, the fear ebbs from Sutton’s face, but the guilt doesn’t. “Oh, Frogger...hi.” 

“You’re not supposed to leave Atlantis.” 

Sutton looks away, abashed. “I just had a little errand…”

“One worth your life.” Frogger tilts his head, inquisitively. 

Sutton winces. “That’s a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think?” 

“No.” 

Sutton sighs, shoulders sloping. “...I just want to tell my family I’m okay.”

“You won’t be if you don’t listen.” Frogger pushes off the wall and approaches. “Why hire me for advice you ignore.” 

“Look, it’s just-I haven’t left the room in  _ over  _ a week-”

“I didn’t tell you to do that.” 

“ _ Well,  _ when I came out everyone looked like they were going to stab me, so…”

“They’re not going to stab you.” 

“You sure?”

There’s a beat. “Probably.” 

Sutton flings their arms out in a  _ there you go  _ motion. 

“And what about Fox and Wolf.” 

“They’re...they’re fine. They’ve been spending a lot of time with Thell and Jay.” Sutton wilts, giving a stiff shrug. “They seem to like the girls a lot, and they both seem pretty nice, so…” 

“Hm.” Frogger stares at them for several moments, then turns to head back the way Sutton came. “Come on.” 

Sutton follows reluctantly, looking patronized. “You don’t have to walk me back.” 

“I need to talk to Reed.” 

Sighing, Sutton falls into step beside him. 

As the two pass the unmarked building, the youth who’d been dragged inside stumbles out the double doors, face white and speckled with blood. Some of the others approach now, expressing confusion and concern as Frogger and Sutton, blissfully ignorant, continue on their way. 

* * *

**THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2270**  
**A1, OLD MIAMI - ATLANTIS**  
**MASQUERADE**

The classical lobby is empty save Jay at the counter, with Fox and Wolf. Under Jay’s guidance, Fox carefully pushes the stylus around the screen, brow furrowed in concentration, while Wolf sits on the counter and watches. As Frogger and Sutton descend the stairs, Fox looks up and brightens.

“You’re back!” Fox gets down from her chair and rounds the counter. 

“I’m back.” Sutton says, the pouting edge to their expression softening as Fox hugs them around the waist. “Why’re you up?” 

“We wanted to make sure you came back. Jay’s showing us how to draw things.” Fox points at Jay, and the tablet. “Look! Look what I drew!” 

Wolf hops off the counter, coming to stand near Fox and Sutton as Jay holds up the tablet, helpfully displaying one cute cartoony fox accompanied by a hellish creature typical of child drawings. Sutton softens further. “It’s beautiful.” 

“Why’re you here?” Wolf asks Frogger. 

He shrugs. “Ran into Sutton on their...walk.” 

Wolf makes a face at him, glances at Sutton, and turns her attention back to Fox. “It’s bedtime.” 

It’s Fox’s turn to make a face. 

“And no eating or drinking.” Jay adds, glancing at the time. 

“Aw,  _ really?”  _ Fox frowns. “But what if I’m  _ really  _ hungry?” 

“Can’t feel hungry if you’re asleep,” Wolf says, herding her towards the stairs, and Fox groans, but concedes.

“Goodnight, Fox,” Jay says, smiling at her. 

“Goodnight, Jay,” Fox says, in a very put upon tone. She stops at the base of the stairs, looking back and staring expectantly at Sutton until they follow, before shifting attention again. “Goodnight, Frogger.” 

Frogger raises a few fingers in a suggestion of a wave. 

An animated voice can be heard as Wolf ushers Fox into the backroom, and Sutton ends up holding the door for a young woman, who carries on her conversation completely unperturbed by Reed ushering her through the doorway. She talks with her hands, both prosthetics attached to more mechanical joints and plating up to each shoulder, with worn paint but shining metal.

“-lights have been out for weeks, Reed,  _ weeks.  _ Now Palmetto is flooding,  _ again,  _ and if you think it was hard getting maintenance down here normally, there’s no way they’re going anywhere  _ close  _ to Cutler. Honestly, they aren’t even that close-”

“Uh huh…” Reed gets her down the stairs before noticing Frogger. “Mak…”

“I tell you, they’d damn the whole southern deeps ‘cause some drama queen felt a little faint-”

“Mak. Shut up.” 

Mak stops with a huff, turning to face him. 

“I get it, everything’s goin’ to shit. Huge surprise, thanks for the update, you can go now.” 

“That’s not even the half of it, Reed. I’m talking complete meltdown, get outta dodge level shit, if someone doesn’t handle-”

“I. Got. It.” Reed punctuates each word with a sharp gesture of his hands. He makes a shooing motion. “Go away.” 

Mak throws her hands up, placatingly taking a few steps back. “Alright, alright, I’m gone.” And she’s off for the door. 

“Bye, Mak.” Jay calls after her, cheery.” 

“Later, Jay,” she says, waving over her head. She nods at Frogger as she passes. “Frog.” 

Frogger dips his head in acknowledgement. “Makena.” 

The front door almost echoes shut, and Sutton gives one last confused look to the room before ducking through the door they’d been holding through this exchange. Reed makes his way behind the counter with a sigh, running a hand down his face and plopping into the chair next to Jay, spinning slightly. 

“Why she thinks I want to hear about every blown-out bulb and busted pipe in the whole goddamn level is  _ beyond  _ me,” Reed says to the ceiling, the chair still slowly turning. “Atlantis’ crumbling infrastructure is  _ not  _ my problem.” 

“Sounds like your kingdom’s in shambles.” 

“Don’t make jokes, I’m too tired to decipher that shit through your mixer.” Reed’s chair makes a full rotation, just in time for him to glare down his nose at Frogger, then around again he goes. 

“You could go to bed.” Jay offers. 

“It’s too early.” 

“It’s midnight.” 

“I. Don’t.  _ Care. _ ” Reed kicks off the back wall and turns all the way back around, stopping with his hands on the counter, eyes on Frogger. “Tell me some good news.” 

“That’s a short order, your highness.” 

Reed jabs a finger at him, gaze narrow behind his dark tinted lenses. “Don’t.”

Jay chuckles while Frogger holds up his hands in surrender. “Not much on the disappearances. A spike over the last two months, concentrated in east Pillar.” 

“So they’re disappearing into Low Tide…hm...” Reed settles back into the chair, pushing off the counter to, once more, slowly spin. “Well, keep looking, I guess.” 

Frogger watches Reed turn for a moment. “Reed.” 

Reed continues to turn, head resting on the back of the chair. Frogger reaches up and clicks a button on his mask, sighing. 

“ _ Reed.”  _

Reed makes an indistinct noise to the ceiling. Jay reaches out, placing a stilling hand on the back of Reed’s chair, jostling him enough to finally look up, first to side eye Jay, then back to Frogger. “What.” 

“I found a suppressant.” 

Reed’s back to leaning on the counter, fatigue evaporating. “...Where?” 

“You heard of starlight?” 

“That glowy rich kid shit?” Reed asks, frowning. Frogger nods, and Reed raises a brow. “ _ That’s  _ a cure?” 

“High starlight usage, slower spread, slower progression of the virus.” 

“Alright... “ Reed stands. “I have to get it from that GlowWorm chick, right?” 

Another nod. 

“Guess I had to meet her eventually…” Reed sighs. “Where is she, exactly?” 


	2. Dentist Appointment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning at the end of the chapter

**THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2270**   
**10AM**   
**A1, OLD MIAMI - ATLANTIS**   
**MASQUERADE**

It’s a relatively small sitting area, comparably sterile and uncluttered compared to the rest of the building, with light colored linoleum in front of the sink and cupboards along one wall. Sutton hovers around Fox, who sits on a dentist-esque chair in a medical smock and cap, the chair set on what looks like rails that disappear behind a pair of double doors. The girl’s eyes are fixed on Jay, in scrubs. 

“After the molar is removed, we anchor the chip in its place. Then, we insert the receivers” Jay touches a finger to each of his temples, to the pale scars there. “The whole process is going to take about six hours. We’ll give you special bandages for the incisions so they heal correctly, which will need to be changed daily. Oral recovery will be about a week, and complete recovery within a month. How’re you feeling?”

Fox shrugs, eyes wide and unsure. Jay smiles, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

“Sutton and Wolf will know all this too, and Thell and I would be more than happy to help with recovery if you need it.” 

Fox looks to Sutton, who smiles and gives her a thumbs up. Fox returns it, while Jay dons a pair of gloves.

“What’s that for?” Fox asks, a wobble to her voice as Jay applies a tourniquet to her arm.

“We’re going to insert an IV, so you can sleep through the whole thing.” He explains. “I’ve heard you don’t like needles, will you be okay?” 

* * *

Jay stands by the door, watching with a touch of exasperation as Sutton chases a screaming Fox around the room. The door opens beside Jay, and in steps Reed, wearing the same glasses (save their lack of tint) and dark scrubs. 

“Fox! Fox, it’s O.K. just calm down-” 

Fox ducks under Sutton’s arms and clambers over the couch, continuing to yell incoherently. 

“Fox,  _ please!”  _

Reed turns to Jay, who continues to watch Fox and Sutton dart back and forth. 

“You were right about the phobia.” Jay gives Reed a look of dry amusement. “Not one for needles.” 

Reed sighs, stepping around him to one of the cabinets, which is locked when he tries. He gestures Jay over, and he obliges, unlocking the cabinet and stepping aside, but eyeing him skeptically as Reed reaches inside. 

Sutton chases Fox in circles around the dentist chair. 

“Come on, Fox, it’ll just be a  _ little  _ pinch, just for a  _ second _ .” Sutton says, stopping to catch their breath. Fox eyes them through the arms of the chair and shakes her head. “You’ll barely notice. You want a cool tooth that reads your mind, right?”

Fox considers this...and gives a slow nod. Sutton’s smile is a touch desperate. 

“Right! Well, to get it, you need an IV.” 

Fox shakes her head, violently, and ducks behind the chair. Sutton groans, and Reed steps away from the counter and towards Fox. Jay reads the label on the bottle Reed sets aside, and moves to follow him.

“Reed…” 

Sutton tries to climb over the dentist chair. Fox backpedals away from them in response, right into Reed. He puts a cloth over her mouth and nose, and as she gasps in surprise, her eyes unfocus, and in the next moment she goes limp. 

“What the-Whoa!” Sutton scrambles not to hit their face as they fall off the chair. “Hey, what’d you just do?” 

“I handled the situation.” Reed responds easily, handing the cloth off to a mildly perturbed Jay.

“You drugged her!” 

“Calm down, she’s  _ fine.”  _ Reed says, picking her up. 

Sutton, aghast, takes a jerky step forward and reaches for Fox. Jay steps between them. 

“That was uncalled for.” He says over his shoulder to Reed, before turning back to Sutton with sincerity. “But it’s just a mild sedative. Fast acting,  _ very  _ mild.”

“Bu-uh, wha-” Sutton leans around Jay to get a look at Fox, at a loss. 

“One I didn’t give her  _ nearly  _ enough of, so if you could put the needle in her arm before she wakes up, that’d be  _ great. _ ” Reed says, setting Fox down in the chair. Jay sighs, but moves to Fox’s side, reapplying the tourniquet. 

Sutton fists their hands in their hair, making a low, unintelligible noise of distress. 

“Where’s the grumpy one?” Reed asks, stepping away and giving Jay room to work. 

“Huh?” Sutton lowers their arms hesitantly. 

“The other spliceling.” He clarifies. 

“Why, you want to drug her too?” 

Reed snorts.

“Thell’s showing her how the masks are made.” Jay says, finishing up the IV.

Sutton looks at Reed with genuine worry. “Please don’t drug her.” 

“I’m not gonna drug her,” he says, rolling his eyes and stepping back to the chair. “Unless she’s running around screaming, then no promises.” 

Sutton steps back, sinking into one of the waiting chairs as Reed guides Fox through the now open double doors, revealing a surgical room. Jay follows, and the doors close with a subtle  _ woosh.  _ They stare at the door for a moment, then drop their face into their hands. 

Their  _ dear god  _ is muffled but emphatic. 

**THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2270**   
**4PM**   
**A1, OLD MIAMI - ATLANTIS**   
**MASQUERADE**

When the doors of the procedure room open, Sutton is napping on the couch beside Wolf, who up until that moment was engrossed in a tablet. Reed waltzes out, unbuttoning his frock and heading right for the door, Jay coming out shortly after with a sleeping Fox in tow

“It’s done? She’s okay?” Wolf rushes to Fox’s side, Sutton jolting awake as her discarded tablet hits their leg. They look around the room, disoriented. 

Jay smiles at Wolf, stepping away to the cupboard and pulling out a blanket. “She should wake up in thirty minutes, at most.” 

“Oh,  _ oh _ , good, that’s good.” Sutton chimes in, finally looking like they know where they are. Wolf helps Jay place the blanket over Fox, smoothing it out and holding Fox’s hand. Jay goes over to sit in a chair across from Sutton. 

“Were you that worried?” He asks. 

“No, I-well...a little...” They smile awkwardly, face pinching. They glance back the way Reed went “Given the circumstances…” 

Jay laughs, then turns his attention back to Wolf and her procedure tomorrow. He’s explaining the receptors when Reed returns to the waiting room doorway, jacket over his arm and mask in hand, dark sunglasses back in place. 

“Going out,” He says to Jay. “Don’t wait up.” 

“Where are you going?” Jay asks.

“To buy drugs!” Reed grins, slipping an arm into his jacket.

Jay gives him a thoroughly unamused look, and Reed sighs.

“I’m just looking into Frogger’s little cure.” Reed says, leaning against the doorframe with a roll of his eyes. Sutton sits up like a marionette on strings.

When Jay turns back to Wolf this time, it’s with thin-lipped concession. “Well, save the  _ cure _ for Cutler.” 

“Yeah, yeah…” Reed gives a mocking salute, and leaves.

Sutton stands up suddenly, a pained look of indecision on their face, before they scramble out of the room. 

“Sutton?” Wolf says, frowning after them. 

“W-One second” Sutton catches themself on the doorframe, holding up a finger, then runs to catch the elevator door. 

Exit halted, Reed almost looks surprised, but settles for sarcasm instead. “Sure, hold the lift. Not like I’m in a hurry or anything...” 

“There shouldn’t be-there isn’t a cure.” Sutton leans forward, talking like they’re out of breath.

“...And how do you know?” Reed smirks, leaning forward as well.

“Nobody...nobody’s made anything viable for--nothing’s been approved.” 

“I’m not exactly going to a pharmacy, kid.”

Sutton’s frown deepens, some calculation running behind their eyes, coming to a solution as they turn back to Reed. “...Could, um, could I come with you?” 

Reed eyes them for a moment, leaning back on one leg. “I’m not your babysitter.” 

“I’m not-” Sutton stops, shrugging off their irritation. “If I...if I followed you, would you stop me?”

Reed considers this. “...Sounds like something a babysitter would do.” 

He steps to the side of the lift, sweeping his arm in a  _ go ahead _ to the now open space. Sutton laughs, almost despite themself, and enters, hugging the wall as he closes the grate. 

“You’re leaving again?” Wolf has followed from the waiting room, coming to stand in front of the lift. 

“Just for a bit. I need to-I gotta-I, uh,” Sutton steps up to the grate, glancing at Reed, who sighs and makes like he’s checking his nails (through his gloves). Sutton turns back to Wolf. “I need to confirm something.” 

If possible, Wolf’s scowl deepens. “Frogger said-”

“Yeah,  _ I know _ , but I’m not-I mean, he trusts Reed, so this is probably fine.” 

Reed shoots a look of amusement at the back of Sutton’s head, which Wolf catches. Her lip curls, then she’s back to Sutton, speaking through her teeth. “What about Fox?”  
“Fox is fine, she’s sleeping.”

“But if you’re not here when she wakes up-” 

“We’ll be back! We’ll be back…” Sutton turns to Reed. “When will we be back?” 

Reed leans against the lift railing, looking bored. “Later if you keep talking.” 

Sutton makes a face at him, and turns back to Wolf.

“I’ll hurry back, okay?”

Wolf sighs. 

“You done?  _ Awesome. _ ” Reed doesn’t wait for a response, instead leaning around Sutton to press the button for the first floor. As they descend, Sutton gives Wolf a double thumbs up.

Wolf’s face is flat as she slowly returns the gesture. 

* * *

They disembark in the back room. Sutton starts eagerly for the shop front, but Reed catches their hood before they get too far. 

“Not that way.” He says as they’re yanked back by their collar.

Sutton stumbles back upright, frowning at him as he rounds the lift, scanning into a plain door that slides into the wall. Sutton blinks at the one normal Atlas door they’ve seen in the whole building, dropping their glare to follow him through it. 

There’s a few columns holding a low ceiling that extends out several feet, before the room opens into a warehouse, plain concrete and two rows of simple metal shelving. There are shipping crates crowding every wall, leaving little room to actually walk. 

Taking just a moment to absorb this new space, Sutton hurries after Reed, who’s already winding his way through the mess. 

It’s overcrowded with boxes, some in loose groupings, several sporting handwritten notes one their contents (‘chocolate,’ ‘guns,’ ‘soap?’). There are a number of splices back here, moving crates, either on or directing forklifts. They reach the back of the warehouse, the shelves end, and there’s a large metal tube running in one side of the building and out the other, wreathe of crates around some sort of terminal. 

There’s more splices back here. Thell towers over them and the crates they shuffle, one hand on her cane and the other holding the tablet she’s reading.

“Y’all still moving this shit?” Reed calls as they approach.

She doesn’t look up as she answers. “Gave up on sorting them, for now we’re just making sure there’s room to walk.” 

“Mm. Any more coming?” 

“Not today.” She looks at Reed, cocking her head at him, dark eyes flicking over to note Sutton. “Where’re you off to?”

“Frogger told me about something for the ND. I’m checking it out, buying some if I can.” Reed says, slipping on his gunmetal mask. 

“Just don’t try anything.”

“You know, I’m not feeling a whole lot of  _ trust  _ here.” 

“Yes, well, we’ve already had to replace your liver, and they don’t make synthetic brains.” 

“God, you two are still _so_ _touchy_ about that...if anything, you should be less worried.” Reed clasps the mask into place, and on flicks the sharp-toothed red grin. “Synthetic organs are supposed to be _way_ better at-”

“Reed.” Her tone is dryer than a desert. 

“It’s  _ fine. _ ” There’s a smile in his. He walks off, pulling out his phone and pressing buttons with a purpose. 

Thell sighs, turning to Sutton. “...If he takes anything, just leave. We’ll get him later.” 

“Oh...kay.” 

Thell bows her head in nonverbal farewell and walks away, leaving Sutton to watch her back with increasing confusion. Their attention turns to the loud  _ WHOOSH  _ from the back wall. 

Reed stands beside the tube terminal as it slides open, a smaller casing coming to a sudden stop inside. Sutton hurries over. 

“We’re going in  _ that? _ ”

“Uh,  _ yeah, _ ” He says, glancing over his shoulder at them. 

“This is an  _ industrial  _ hyperline.” 

“I’m aware” 

“Do you have a  _ deathwish?”  _

“This one’s custom fitted.” A hatch pops open, revealing padded seats with harnesses inside the tube. He side-eyes Sutton, tone light. “By all means, you’re totally free to stay.” 

He climbs inside, settling in. After a moment's conflict, Sutton follows, immediately fastening their harness and holding on with a deathgrip. Reed chuckles to himself, hitting a button to close the hatch. The interior is lit, but dim, barely brighter than the glow of Reed’s mask. 

For a moment, nothing. Reed turns to Sutton. 

“Do you get motion sick?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning:   
>  \- Needles  
>  \- Descriptions of medical procedures  
>  \- Non-consensual drug use  
>  \- Use of sedatives on a minor


	3. Making Connections

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings at the end

**THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2270**   
**4PM**   
**A1, OLD MIAMI**   
**PRIVATE DOCK**

Two hyperlines face a central, metal platform--one fully open, one stuck halfway--both hollow, with a few feet of water inside. It’s dark, edges of yellow light slipping in from somewhere above, beyond the steep ladder-stairs. 

The tube arrives with a  _ wwhooOOOSH,  _ spraying water out onto the platform. The hatch springs open. Reed leans back from the controls and starts unbuckling himself.

“This is our stop,” he says cheerfully, stepping easily out of the tube and making for the steps, while Sutton slowly extracts themself from their seat and crawls unsteadily onto the platform. 

There’s a short hallway at the top, opening covered by plastic, the shadow of something hanging on the other side. Reed brushes past it, while Sutton stops to read the ‘Under Construction’ sign. 

Around a stack of crates is the bustle of a subdock, people loading and unloading aerosubs, and shifting cargo. Reed moves through the crowd with a confident familiarity and general indifference. Sutton looks like a shoplifting preteen. 

The two take a lift up a handful of floors, to less industrial docks. Notably less crowded, the aerosubs tucked into each private dock are smaller, nicer. Reed scans into one, stepping up to a sleek vehicle, a molted dark blue with pale stripes and spots playing subtly across the surface. The roof is dominated by a deeply opaque glass. 

He rests his hand on the glass and it blinks a faint blue at him, the top slipping open, hinging back to reveal three wine-red leather seats. Sutton stands beside him, pausing in their simmering anxiety just long enough to look it over with a distracted appraisal. 

“After you.” Reed gestures from Sutton to the sub with affected etiquette. They give him a look, but step down inside, teetering a little before taking one of the two back seats. Reed settles into the pilot seat and closes the top. 

The vehicle starts with a smooth  _ hum,  _ interface glowing a pale blue. A couple more button presses, and a hatch opens to a pool of water beneath the sub. It’s lowered, slowly, and once submerged, they zip off through the dark water, maneuvering around tubes, walkways, and other subs. 

They continue underwater for some time before breaching, creating a wake as the ship’s hover boosters kick in, seamlessly lifting the aerosub into the air. 

**THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2270**   
**5PM**   
**HIGHWATER**

The ride is silent, Sutton looking out the window while Reed follows the GPS overlay on the windshield, until his eye catches on something they almost pass. 

“Oh, perfect!” 

Sutton glances up from the window. “Wha- _ MMmm!” _

They’re lurching to brace themself as he makes a hard u-turn, pulling up alongside a pillar walkway. He pops the top and hops out, stepping over the railing and strolling over to a flashy little storefront advertising costumes, red grin on his mask flicking off as he steps inside. 

Sutton sits for a moment, frowning into the distance, then unbuckles themself and crawls over the other seat, carefully and ungracefully making their way over the railing. Once they’re out, the ship’s top comes down, and it bobs gently in place. 

Inside the shop are cluttered racks of themed attire, a lot of it cheap and gaudy and third hand. As Sutton slowly makes their way inside, Reed is already having something bagged up by the shopkeeper. 

“Is that it?” Sutton asks, failing to discreetly peek in the bag.

Reed gives them a look they don’t catch, their attention turning to the shopkeeper.

“Can I see some?” 

“Excuse them, they’re high,” Reed says pleasantly, taking his bag from the shopkeeper. Pressing his hand to a paypad, he uses the other to grab Sutton by the shoulder. “Come on.” 

“Oh, well...Have a nice day!” The shopkeeper calls. Reed waves over his shoulder as the door slips closed behind them. Once out, he lets go of Sutton’s arm and steps over to his ship, pulling out his phone and pressing things. 

“Was that not the place?” Sutton asks. 

“Nope. That was just a plain old costume shop you tried to ask for drugs.” The ship pulls away from the walk, zipping away. 

“Oh…”

“We’re close, though.” Reed turns back to them, pocketing his phone. “We can walk from here.” 

“Why’d we go to a costume shop?”

“Drugdealer likes gifts.” 

“Oh...shit, should I have bought something?” Sutton moves to head back inside the shop. Reed catches their arm. 

“Not that formal. Maybe just don’t talk when we get there.” 

Cowed, Sutton nods in acknowledgement. Reed drops their arm, and they walk in silence for several moments, Sutton glancing at Reed and fidgeting with their hands. 

Reed sighs. “You can talk  _ now. _ ”

“Who are we meeting?” 

“The new baron on the block. Well, a lot of people  _ think  _ she’s a baron, but-” 

“Wha-We’re going to meet a  _ baron?”  _ They sputter into whispering, leaning in and speaking low. 

“Uh…” Reed raises a brow at them. “ _ Yeah. _ ”

Sutton brushes back their hair. “Oh my god…” 

“It’s seriously  _ not  _ that big of a deal. Compared to me, she’s fresh meat.” 

Sutton frowns. “...Compared to you?”

“Oh,  _ easily.  _ I mean, I’ve only been at this shit for like four years, but I think you gotta make  _ at least  _ a year before you count.” 

“You’re a baron?” Sutton’s flabbergasted. 

Reed gives them a  _ long  _ look, and then just snorts. “Who did you think I was?” 

“Frogger said you were a dentist…” 

“Well, he’s not wrong.” Reed sighs. “Though it’s more of a hobby at this point, if I’m being honest.” 

“Okay…so...are you-Do you run the black market?” 

“Nah, that’s Thell’s gig, I’m basically just renting her the space. I’ve got more of a  _ turf,  _ I guess, than a cornered market.” 

Sutton considers this, brow pinched. 

“You just gonna clam up again?”

“...What do you want to talk about?”

“ _ God,  _ I feel like I’m at a middle school dance.” He steps in front of them, walking backwards. “Look, you obviously know jack shit about shit, so consider this your chance to gain a little wisdom from an expert.”

“I know a lot about the world!” Sutton says, offended, glancing around Reed to make sure he doesn’t run into someone.

“Oh,  _ really?”  _

They roll their eyes. “I grew up in The Swamps, I know what’s up.” 

Reed tries not to laugh as he holds up his hands in concession. “Alrighty, then, I’ll take your word for it.” 

He drops his hands and turns back around, pulling a little ahead. “Shame on me for tryin’ to be helpful.” 

Sutton frowns at their back for a second before they’re stepping up beside him again. 

“Actually, I...I do have a question.” 

Reed looks at them expectantly. 

“Last week, when you were showing us  _ our odds…”  _ They add finger quotes for emphasis. “What did you mean?”

“Which part?”

“When you said you used your own teeth when you couldn’t keep your patients’, do you, like, collect fake teeth or something?”

Reed eyes them for a second, then reaches up to loosen his mask. The two stop, forcing people to trickle around them, some giving him a scandalized look as he pulls the mask off fully, and he makes a big show of running his tongue along his teeth. 

“...What’re you doing?” 

Reed grins. “Observe.”

“You don’t honestly think I’m  _ actually _ going to believe you use your own…” Sutton’s amused disbelief fades to shock as Reed sticks his hand in his mouth and pulls out a molar. 

He holds it between them, smirking at Sutton’s blank stare. When the silence stretches on, he starts walking again, spitting blood over the railing. 

“Did you just rip out your tooth?” Sutton’s tone is flat. They aren’t looking at him.

“Yup.” Reed puts his mask back on.

Sutton whips around to face him, dumbfounded. “ _ Why?”  _

Reed looks at the tooth, and shrugs. “Why not? They fall out, anyways.” 

He pockets the tooth and keeps walking. 

“...What?”

“C’mon, we’re wasting daylight.” 

They hurry after him, gesturing sharply. “ _ What?”  _

**THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2270**   
**5PM**   
**B3, KEY LARGO - THE REEF  
SOUND TOWER APARTMENTS**

Frogger sits at his computer, typing away. Radios chatter in the background (there’s been a raid on the Reef, the ICs are fully converted, expanding checkpoints for new quarantines, rising death toll). There’s a map of the city on a side screen, dots marking old splicing labs, labeled for affiliation (RISE, GenetiCure, CoWER, ETC, FIGS, RCGD). Frogger zooms in on a CoWER lab in The Glades, where he lost the Impetus delivery. He pulls up more information on it specifically, drumming his fingers on the desk when he sees it’s active. 

His computer dings, and he glances to a new message from Izar. 

_ Just a heads up… _

Frogger sighs, loudly. 

**THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2270**   
**6PM**   
**C4, BELLE GLADE - HIGH WATER  
THE CAVE**

On a walkway about ten feet above the canal’s waterline below, the late afternoon sun reflects between buildings, casting Reed and Sutton in an orange hue. There’s an old, rundown stage theatre, a sign above the entrance once reading ‘Calvary Theatre,’ still visible in the shadows on the building front, but the only remaining letters spelling ‘C a v e.’

The doors  _ whoosh  _ open, to nothing but a heavy sheet blocking the entire entrance. Reed brushes it aside and steps in, Sutton moving apprehensively in his wake. 

Beyond the curtain, there’s a dim foyer under blacklight. Several people lounge around, on and behind a busted out concession stand filled with vials and crystals that glow. There’s more laid out on the old ticket counter, with more glowing vials and glowing mouths. Some look up as they enter, but many don’t notice. Music and chatter drifts from further in, and Reed moves on. 

The doors to the theatre itself are stuck open. Scattered about in the chairs are more people wearing light, airy clothes, their bodies languid and mouths aglow. Some talk among themselves, others watch the stage. Dim lights are strung from walls and hang from the ceiling. 

On the stage, in the burning circle of a spotlight, is a wisp of a woman. She’s ghostly pale, the bangs of her pageboy haircut obscuring her eyes. She stands in the light, surrounded by more people crowding the edges on bean bags, pillows and crystals strewn about, accented by several disco balls that manage to scatter the few stray beams of light into the dark. The woman is holding a skull, also made of crystal. 

“ _ If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended…”  _

Every eye with attention to give is on her grim recitation, including Reed and Sutton’s as they make their way down the central aisle. 

_ “That you have slumber’d here, While these vision did appear. And this weak and idle theme, if you pardon, we will mend: No more yielding but a dream…”  _

They reach the bottom of the aisle and are stopped by a woman from the first row, standing in their way, sucking on a glowing gobstopper. 

_ “Gentles, do not reprehend: And…”  _ the woman’s eye falls on Sutton and Reed. She holds her pose, but tilts her head. “Who’re you?” 

Reed gives Gobstopper a once over, then smiles up at the woman. 

He places a hand to his chest, leaning in slightly, imploring.  _ “And, as I am an honest Puck,”  _

GlowWorm breaks into a glowing grin. 

_ “If we have unearned luck, not to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue, we will make amends ere long.”  _ Reed’s mask returns his own glowing grin as he holds out his hands.  _ “Else the Puck a liar call…”  _

GlowWorm waves Gobstopper off, and as she reluctantly concedes, stepping aside, Reed strides forward. Sutton stays where they are, looking from Reed to the stage, unsure. 

Reed places a hand on the stage and hops up, standing tall, still looking at GlowWorm with smiling eyes. She continues to grin back as he approaches, passes, almost as if to circle her, but stops at her side, rounding on the ‘audience’ with a flair of his hand to the air. 

_ “So, good night unto you all!”  _ He turns to GlowWorm, tucking an arm behind his back and bending at the waist in a facsimile of a bow, offering a hand.  _ “Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends.”  _

GlowWorm watches him, as he does in turn, both their expressions subdued for a moment before her grin is back and there’s an amused quirk to his brow. 

“Excuse the intrusion.” He stands up straight, leaning back on his leg with his arms out, presentory. “Reed De La Rosa, at your service.” 

GlowWorm looks him over, smiling.  _ “The prince doth keep his revels here to-night?” _

Reed holds out the bag from the costume shop, head falling to the side. “I brought you a gift.” 

GlowWorm gasps, snatching it from him and spinning away, digging in to retrieve a long feather boa. Reed brushes back his coat, putting his hands in his pockets. 

“A  _ welcome to the neighborhood,  _ of sorts.” 

GlowWorm lets out a high noise of unintelligible delight, tossing the bag aside and coiling the boa around her neck, twirling. 

“I’ve been meaning to make a trip out this way for a while now…” Reed looks around the theatre. “See what all the fuss’s about.” 

Glowworm stops twirling, bundled in the boa, mouth hidden behind feathers as she gazes up at him through her bangs. 

“I like you.” She says bluntly, leaning forward and letting the boa fall away from her shining mouth. “What do you want?” 

“Starlight, if you can spare it.” 

“Oh, you didn’t have to come all the way to me for that.” She approaches Reed again. “Anyone in the lobby could’ve given you as much starlight as you could possibly want.”

Reed tilts his head, raising a brow at her as she circles him. “You aren’t stingy.” 

“Why should I be?” She leans around him. “I like sharing.” 

Reed folds one arm, tucking it under the other, placing a finger to his chin. “I’m thinking of something…” 

He snaps, as if in an  _ aha  _ moment. “Green.” 

Glowworm laughs.

Sutton has made their way around Gobstopper at this point, and is struggling to get onto the stage, catching Glowworm’s attention. 

“She with you?” she asks, leaning in to Reed’s side.

“Hm?” Reed turns, looking at Sutton like he’d forgotten they were there. “Oh, them. More or less…” 

He steps away, shrugging to GlowWorm and reaching down to pull Sutton up by the collar. 

“Ah, yes, them…” GlowWorm says, watching with interest as Sutton scrambles to their feet.

“...Thanks.” Sutton says, face indignant as they adjust their coat, making a quick shift to surprise as GlowWorm sweeps into their space. 

“My apologies.” She says, producing a vial of starlight with a flourish. “Here, have one.”

“Thank-thank you…” They take it, looking at it intently. “This is starlight?” 

“Mhmm,” GlowWorm hums, leaning against them. “I call these ones glow sticks.” 

“They’re uh…” Sutton watches her, wide-eyed, as they adjust for her slight weight. “ _ Pretty. _ ” 

“They taste good, too.” She offers, tilting her head towards them. She steps back suddenly, towards Reed, and Sutton totters a little. “And if you want something stronger, we’ve also got crystals.”

She produces one in her palm, stepping into Reed’s space. “Try it?” 

For once, just barely, Reed leans away from her. “I really shouldn’t…”

“Come on, isn’t this what you’re here for?” 

Sutton frowns at the vial in their hand. 

“...Is this the-” They start, looking to Reed. 

GlowWorm’s attention is halfway to Sutton when Reed plucks the proffered crystal and pockets it. “Do you sell in bulk?” 

GlowWorm watches him, rocking back on her heels and toying with the boa around her neck. “...How much?”

“More than I could find up front.” 

“Hm…” She’s stepping closer again, pointing with playful accusation with the end of the feather scarf. “Are you trying to steal my friends?”

“I wouldn’t  _ dream  _ of it.” Reed puts a hand to his heart, as if injured. He looks out the room, hands back in his pockets. “ _ Actually,  _ I’m trying to make a new friend of my own…” 

He smiles at her. “Interested?” 

“Depends…are you a good friend?” 

“The greatest…” Reed leans forward, a lilt to his tone. He holds out a casual hand to shake.  _ “If we be friends.”  _

GlowWorm grins. 

She tosses the boa around Reed’s neck, pulling him down almost to eye level. Reed goes along with it easily. 

“...I have a request.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warnings:  
>  \- Teeth  
>  \- Recreational drug use  
>  \- Misgendering (unintentional, apologized)  
>  \- Shakespeare


	4. Shooting The Messenger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings at the end of the chapter

**THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2270**   
**7PM**   
**A1, OLD MIAMI**   
**PRIVATE DOCK**

The two walk through the docks, past crates and workers, Reed catching a little black box like a ring case. 

“...Do you think she stole it?” Sutton asks, eyes fixed on the box.

“ _ That’s _ an assumption. Why would I?” He tosses it up again.

“If it was left to her, she would’ve had the keyword for the deadlock. She needs  _ you  _ to break it, ergo…” 

“First stop of any chip is the next of kin.” Reed catches the box, pensive for a split second. He dismisses it with a shrug. “...Families can be cruel.” 

They frown at the ground. Up again goes the box, and they come out of their thoughts with a wince as it lands back in his hand. “...You shouldn’t toss it around like that.” 

“It’ll be fine, these things are durable.” 

“You don’t think it’s, I don’t know...disrespectful?” 

Reed gives them a side-eye, then pockets the case with a small sigh, pulling out the starlight crystal instead. He looks it over, brow furrowed, then tosses it to Sutton. “Here.” 

Sutton fumbles to catch it but manages, looking at him quizzically. 

“Not in the mood for a pointless lecture.” 

Sutton frowns. “...What am I supposed to do with it?” 

“Suck on it, I guess.” He shrugs, the gestures to Sutton’s pocket, to the glowstick. “Though I’d probably start off with the weaker stuff, see how you like it first.” 

“Y...yeah. I totally intend on taking these. Yep, that’s definitely why I took it.”

Reed snorts, and they walk in silence for a beat.

“...So who was it?” 

“Hm?” Sutton stops contemplating the crystal.

“Who died?” 

Sutton blinks, taken aback, then conflicted, debating with their shuffling feet if they want to answer. Reed eyes them, sober, before something beyond the crates catches his attention. Reed pulls aside the plastic ‘Under Construction’ cover. 

“...My dad. He was a skimmer, in charge of keeping the canals clear, so when all those sirens started dying…” They stop at the steps, looking down into the dim, shrugging. “He was one of the first.” 

“Rough.” Reed lets the plastic fall, facing it. “You get used to it.” 

Sutton halts their descent down the steps to glare at him. “... _ Seriously?”  _

“Part of life.” He reaches into his jacket. “Now, why don’t you just run on ahead?”

“Wha-Why?” Sutton’s agitation stills as he leans against the wall, flanking the short hallway, and they see the gun. Beyond the plastic, a handful of shadows move in.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be quick.” He says, red grin glowing. 

Sutton stutters, then scrambles down the steps. They’re barely at the bottom when the shots go off, four bursts, followed by yelling and pained groans. A gun clatters over the edge, falling at their feet. They press back against the steep metal, frozen. 

Above, a man clutches a wound in his neck, sputtering as blood seeps through his fingers. Past him, another wheezes, a scorch mark on his back, and yet another kneels, clutching his shoulder. The final man clutches his leg. 

Reed steps away from the wall. He gives neck-wound a once over and puts a bullet in his head, then pulls a second handgun from his belt as leg-wound reaches for a discarded gun that fell beside him. Leg yanks his hand back, while Shoulder cries and ducks violently to the side as the bullet zips past him, striking between Leg and the gun. Reed is standing over the man with the back wound. 

“I don’t need to see you to blow your hand off, so just sit tight a sec.” He keeps the gun trained on Leg, but eyes on Back. “You done?”

Back struggles to roll over, getting off a shot that grazes Reed’s arm. 

“ _ Ow,  _ shit. Yeah, you’re done. ” He shoots Back in the head. 

Clicking a device on his belt, Reed steps over to Shoulder, static sparking in the air around him. Shoulder flinches as Reed crouches beside him with a noise of dissatisfaction.

“Barely nicked you…” Reed reaches out. “Guess I need to work on my aim.” 

Shoulder cringes away and Reed rolls his eyes. 

“Chill.” He grabs Shoulder’s hand, pulling it away from the seeping wound. “...You’ll live, if you don’t go into shock. Are you going into shock?”

Shoulder doesn’t react, instead staring a hole into the ground. Reed grabs his hand again and puts it back over the wound, earning another flinch.

“Keep that there.” Reed stands, turning to Leg. “How about you? In shock?”

Leg glares at him. 

“No?  _ Great.  _ Is this about the women or the books?” 

Leg doesn’t answer, just glares. Reed looks off into the distance, sighing, then kneels beside Leg, pressing the barrel of his gun into Leg’s thigh. 

_ “Look,  _ I got shit to do, and I’d rather not waste time with a staring contest.” Reed cocks his head. “Women or books?” 

“...Women.” Leg concedes through clenched teeth. 

“See? That wasn’t so hard.” Reed looks over a familiar scattering of bodies. “You’d think he’d learn after last time…”

No response. Reed looks him in the eyes again.

“Alright, tell Captain Asshole to  _ piss off,  _ or I’m going to  _ personally  _ return the favor. Capiche?” 

Again, nothing. 

“ _ Awesome.”  _ Reed stands, stepping over Leg to head for the stairs.

“Bastard should’a left you in the lab,” Leg spits after him. 

Reed stops, looks up to the ceiling with a deep sigh, and turns to shoot Leg in the head. He looks to Shoulder, pointing loosely with his gun. 

“You catch that?” 

Shoulder nods in  _ violent  _ confirmation. 

“Oh, you’re  _ not  _ in shock!” Reed holsters his guns. “Good for you.”

Stepping up to the ladder, he leans over. The white of Sutton’s wide eyes stare back at him. 

“You gonna get moving?” 

Sutton clings to the wall, hunching like they might sink into it with effort. 

Reed gives a very put-upon sigh. “...I’m sure your girls are wondering where you are.” 

Sutton tenses. Slowly, they take a step away from the wall. They take another. They make it to the hyperline and stagger through the hatch, crawling into the farthest back seat they can. Reed gives them a moment, then follows, getting into the front seat. 

The hyperline hatch closes.

**THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2270**   
**8PM**   
**A1, ATLANTIS**   
**MASQUERADE**

Sutton steps out of the warehouse, into the back room, with dead eyes. They come up short in their lumbering. Frogger is there, leaning against the back of the couch.

“Frogger…” A light comes on behind their eyes. They rush forward. “F-Frogger, we need to talk.” 

Frogger stares at them, unmoved. “...Why did you go to GlowWorm.” 

“Uh…” Sutton blinks, train of thought derailed. They reach into their pocket, pulling out the vial of starlight. “I wanted to see if this was what we were, uh, what we were working on.” 

“Obviously.” Frogger crosses his arms, mask whirring as he looks away. “Which is why you should not have gone.”

“Wait, you  _ knew _ ?” 

Frogger just looks at them. They open their mouth, close it, then try again, just as the warehouse door slips open once more, and in comes Reed, unbuckling his mask. 

“Thell!”

Sutton flinches so hard they crush the vial in their hand, immediately drawing Frogger’s attention. 

“Are you-” He starts, looking at their hand. 

Sutton grabs his arm, leaning in with intensity. “We need to leave.” 

Frogger leans away from them. “Why.”

“We can’t stay here.” 

Thell pokes her head in from the shop. “Yeah?” 

“Get ahold of Mak, ask if she’s got any interest in drug dealing.”

“Unlikely.” Her tone is amused. 

“Well then, tell her I’ll listen to  _ whatever the hell  _ she wants if she pushes starlight around Atlantis for me.” 

Thell tilts her head. “...Alright.” 

Thell ducks out of the room, and Reed turns to Frogger, as if just noticing him. “Aye, Frog Legs!”

“What did you do.” 

Reed looks offended. “Why do you assume  _ I  _ did something?” 

Frogger answers with a pointed downtilt of his head. Reed rolls his eyes dramatically. 

“We ran into some of Nimo’s help, it’s really not that big of a deal.” 

“ _ Not a big deal?”  _ Sutton looks at him directly for the first time. “You  _ shot  _ people!”

Reed crosses his arm, almost defensive. “Would you’ve preferred I let them kill us? ‘Cause that’s what would’ve happened.” 

“Y-yeah- _ No, _ but, w-w-ell, they were after  _ you,  _ so-so-” Sutton rounds on Frogger, who’s watching the blood slipping from their hand, still clutching the shards of the vial. “He’s  _ dangerous,  _ we can’t stay here.” 

Frogger’s mask whirs again, and the lift rattles to a stop, the grate opening to Jay. Sutton jumps, head whipping around for a moment like they don’t know where they are. 

“Who’s shooting people?” Jay asks. 

“Nimo tried to kill me again.” 

“Ah.” Jay seems unfazed. He turns to Sutton. “Sutton, good to see you’re...mostly alright. The girls were worried about you.” 

Some of the mania dies down from their eyes, replaced by guilt. “Is Fox awake?”

“Awake, but groggy. They’re in your room.” Jay turns to Reed. “Books?” 

“Women. Who’re coming to me all on their own, so technically not my fault.” 

Jay and Frogger exchange a glance. 

“Technically…” says Jay. 

“Yes,  _ technically. _ ” Reed says with annoyance, walking around them to the lift. “I’m just doing my job, and Nimo’s a pissy bitch.” 

Thell pops her head back in from the front, holding a phone away from her face. “Mak wants to know if she’s getting a cut.” 

“No, she’s getting my time and that’s it.” 

“He said yes.” Thell ducks back out of the room. 

“Jay, would Fox be alright to travel?” Sutton asks.

“...Yes, but you’d have to keep an eye on her.” He isn't enthused by the concept. “Are you leaving?” 

Sutton radiates a pained air. “Well, I just-”

“They’ll be here tomorrow.” Frogger cuts in. 

Both Jay and Sutton look like they might protest. 

“Jay, I need you to open the medicine cabinet.” Reed leans out of the lift, expectantly, weight heavy on the grate. Jay sighs, gives Sutton and Frogger a lingering look of concern, and heads over to the lift with Reed. He reaches over to get a look at his arm. 

Reed brushes past him to close the grate “It’s fine.” 

“If it’s fine, I don’t need to open the medicine cabinet.” 

Reed hits the button and lets Jay fuss, leaning against the back of the lift with a huff. As they ascend, Sutton looks less and less tense. 

They turn to Frogger with conviction. “We will not be here tomorrow.”

“Where do you plan to take them.” 

They markedly less conviction in their response. “I don’t know, a-a motel, or-”

“You got lucky the first time, and that was before the containment bill. No one’s going to let a splice in.” 

“ _ I don’t know,  _ I thought finding a safe place was  _ your  _ job!” 

Frogger rests a finger on the bridge of his goggles. “I found you a safe space. You keep leaving.” 

“Frogger,  _ please… _ ” Sutton pleads, desperate. Frogger’s attention falls back to their bleeding hand. He looks away, mask whirring as he takes a deep breath. 

“Fine.” 

“Th-thank you.” Their face brightens. “Thank you thank you thank you-”

Frogger puts up a hand. “But you will be back tomorrow. Wolf needs her surgery and Reed is the only one who can get you out of the city.” 

“...Fine.” Sutton deflates, looking away. “Fine. I understand.”

Frogger nods towards the elevator. “Go get the girls, and have Jay fix your hand.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warnings:  
>  \- Paternal Death  
>  \- Death from disease  
>  \- Gun violence  
>  \- Casual homicide


	5. Sleep Over

**THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2270**   
**9PM**   
**B3, KEY LARGO - THE REEF**   
**SOUND TOWER APARTMENTS**

Wolf carries a sleeping Fox on her back, both wearing simple masks, as Frogger leads them through the hallways of his apartment building. Sutton trudges after them, feet dragging. 

“...You didn’t mention Reed was a baron.” 

“Wasn’t relevant.”

Sutton snorts, then stumbles.

“You okay.” Frogger watches as they focus intently on where they put their feet.

“Huh?” 

“You drugged yourself when you broke the vial.” 

“Is that why I feel so  _ weird?”  _

“We can hope.” Frogger stops at his door while Sutton ruminates on that, and their shoes, in silence. He scans himself in and steps aside, keeping the door open for the girls, then Sutton, to head inside. Lucas peaks around a corner at the end of the hall, and waves when Frogger meets his gaze. Frogger raises a hand in acknowledgment, and goes in. 

Sutton stands awkwardly near the door, while Wolf approaches the pile of bickering radios. 

_ “Fog is being linked to new cases of plague. The public is advised to use hydrofilters-”  _ The radio fizzes into static, switching channels. 

_ “-doubts have been expressed about the APD’s ability to actually locate the city’s transgenic population. With the raid coming up short-’ _

Static.

_ “-it’s high time something was done about the mutts-” _

Static. 

_ “-has Florida’s coastal neighbors worried. In other news, missing TOs and false tooth chips: how the TOC Act is shedding new light on this  _ **_criminal_ ** _ epidemic. We interviewed Police Chief Sardinia today about the prolific nat-” _

The radio volume dips, dropping to indistinguishable white noise. Wolf turns, watching Frogger put his phone away. He presses a button near the lightswitch, and a bed panel lowers the ceiling over the dining table. 

“I only have two pillows,” Froggers says, watching it settle. “But you can use one of the blankets.” 

Sutton collapses face first across the foot of the bed. 

“Or that.”

Wolf gingerly maneuvers Fox off her back, laying her down on the bed. She takes off Fox’s mask, then her shoes, and pulls a blanket over her, tucking her in. Removing her own mask, she places them both on the counter beside Frogger, then turns to regard Sutton, who has curled into the fetal position around their bandaged hand. She steps over to take Sutton masks as well, and it joins the girls’ on the counter. 

“Hungry?” 

“Am I allowed to eat?” 

Frogger shrugs. “Not midnight yet.” 

He pushes off the counter, dropping his arms and moving to the fridge, opening it while Wolf follows a couple steps, then with her eyes. 

“Ever had an apple?” 

Wolf shakes her head. 

“Here.” Frogger tosses a red apple to her, pulling out his own when she catches it, and closes the fridge. “If you don’t like it, there’s bananas and nutripaks.”

He taps a cupboard. “Cups are in here.” 

The sink turns on with a touch to the facet. “Water.” 

It’s off with another touch, and he points to the door across from the entrance. “Bathroom’s there.” 

Wolf glances where he points, giving a single nod. He walks around her to the desk, reaching up to his mask. His hands pause, just for a moment, then pull off his goggles. He places them and his mask on his desk, turning back to Wolf. She’s turning the apple over in her hands like she doesn’t know what to do with it. Frogger approaches. 

“There isn’t really a  _ right  _ way to eat it…” He kneels beside her, holding up his own apple. “But most start from the bottom.” 

He takes a big, showy bite. Wolf watches, then mimics, then begins scarfing it down. 

“Like it?’

Wolf nods as well as she can while shoving an apple into her mouth. 

“Trash is there, if you get any seeds.” He stands, pointing to the closet. 

By the time Frogger sits at his desk, taking a second bite of his apple, she’s halfway done with hers. She pauses as he settles into the chair, realization passing over her face. 

“...We’re using your bed.” 

“Should be big enough.” His computer screens flicker on in quick succession. 

“Where are you going to sleep?” 

He waves a hand over his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.” 

And he’s typing away. Wolf shuffles on her feet, then sits on the end of the bed near Sutton’s legs, and takes another bite. 

**FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2270**   
**1AM - STORMING**   
**B3, KEY LARGO - THE REEF**   
**SOUND TOWER APARTMENTS**

It’s dark, save a couple monitors in front of Frogger, who still sits at the desk, though he’s taken off the raincoat and gloves by this point. A news channel runs, silent with subtitles. On the bed, Fox and Sutton sleep soundly, Sutton still at the foot of the bed, but down shoes and up a blanket. Wolf turns in her sleep. 

On the screen with Frogger’s attention, there’s a map of Boca Raton, Low Tide. Several video feeds stem from different cameras, each view largely industrial. A feed fuzzes out, and Frogger checks its neighbors, following the static to an elevator in an access spine. He sighs. 

Wolf makes a whining noise that drops into a growl, and Frogger pauses. He turns his seat, just enough to see her moving restlessly. Suddenly, she stops. 

He turns around the rest of the way. “Awake?” 

“...Yes.”

“Bad dream?”

“No.” 

Frogger smiles, dry and humorless, and looks away. “You’re from a lab, right?” 

“Obviously.”

“Fox isn’t.” 

Her eyes narrow. “...How do you know?” 

“Too young.” 

She’s silent at this, glower easing. 

“What happened to her parents?” 

And the glower is back. “Does it matter? They’re  _ dead,  _ or they ran off, and she’s-” 

She cuts herself off, head bowing, fingers curling in the blankets. 

“...Doesn’t make a difference.” She finishes, finally, drawing her knees to her chest. 

They sit in silence for several moments. 

Frogger turns back to his screens. “...Have you seen a sunset?”

“What?” She frowns at his back. 

“A sunset.” He’s typing.

“...No. We...didn’t leave the sublevels. Not before…”

She stops as all the monitors come on, each with a sunset or sunrise.

“They’re hard to catch in the city, but…” Frogger closes some, opens more.

“Doesn’t do it justice, they’re better in person.” 

Wolf’s eyes are glued to the screens, flicking between each changing skyline. A beat. Her eyes fall to Fox, sleeping peacefully.

“...I don’t remember the lab. I was five, too young, wasn’t worth remembering…” She brushes a strand of hair from Fox’s face. “I remember when they brought her to the nursery, though. She cried a lot...The nurses could get her to stop, but then the government stopped paying them, so they left. After that, she cried  _ all the time _ ...except when I held her. She’d be quiet, until she was hungry, or shit herself. Most of the other kids ran off, but I doubt they got very far. I stayed, couldn’t think of anything better to do.” 

“...What was left in the closets didn’t last forever. Only reason we didn’t starve is ‘cause Liliana showed up, started bringing food and clothes and shit...I think she had a baby, came to the nursery to find it.” She gestures at Fox, almost absentmindedly. “ _ Obviously,  _ she couldn’t have another, so...made do with us.” 

Wolf tucks half her face back behind her legs. “She came every day, for  _ years... _ then she just stopped.”

Her eyes pinch, fists clenching. “We shouldn’t have left...but we were running out of  _ food,  _ and I didn’t want to leave Fox  _ alone _ so I brought her  _ with me _ , which was so  _ stupid,  _ and-”

Wolf buries her face in her arms, muffled breathing heavy. “...I couldn’t do anything.” 

Silence.

Frogger closes the pictures, opening a dark window that expands across all the screens, leaving the room even dimmer. He stands, moving his chair out of the way so Wolf has a clear view, and hits a button on his keyboard. He sits “next” to her (give or take a couple feet) on the bed, and she looks up as the weight shifts. He doesn’t look back at her, and she frowns. A warm light begins to move up the side of her face, and she turns back to the screens. 

A horizon appears in the sea of black as a sun rises, quickly, quicker than normal. It climbs into the sky, light going warm to cool, shifting with clouds and rain and black turned clear blue.

“I was your age when I got out.” 

She looks at him, but his eyes are still on the screen, the colors playing over both their faces. 

“I was more scared out here than I ever was in the lab. There, I was...numb. Awful things happened, but they were always happening, that’s how it was, and it almost didn’t matter when the cops came, looking for  _ humanity,  _ because either way, it was ending.” 

As the sun threatens to pass from view, the camera turns up, following it, flipping to trace its afternoon descent. 

“...It did matter. Suddenly, I was free, and that was almost worse, because now pain was a  _ choice… _ ”

She watches him a moment longer, then looks back to the screen. The colors shift as the sun slips behind the horizon, blues turning to orange and yellow and pinks, sunset to twilight to dusk, deep  _ deep  _ indigos and pinpricks of stars. The room is dark again. Silent.

“Except...it still isn’t.” 

“...Do you have nightmares?” 

Frogger nods. 

Waves lap against a port-hole window, obscured by computer screens.

Wolf wraps her arms around Frogger, startling him. He freezes, arms held stiffly out, allowing it but hanging there. 

“Your hands are weird.” 

Frogger lets out a breath of amusement, and relaxes a little. 

**FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2270**   
**8AM**   
**B3, KEY LARGO - THE REEF**   
**SOUND TOWER APARTMENTS**

Wolf’s still clinging to his side in the morning. At some point, Fox had adjusted to happily curl against his other side, while Sutton continued to snore at the end of the bed, looking disheveled and dead to the world. 

His computer beeps, and he blinks awake with a slight groan, eyeing the girls in bleary confusion. He looks to his screens, which are dark save white text through the middle. 

_ Rise and Shine, sleepy heads :::;) _

Frogger groans, dropping his head back against the pillows. 

**FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2270**   
**9AM**   
**B3, KEY LARGO - THE REEF**   
**SOUND TOWER APARTMENTS**

_ Sutton.  _ Fuzzy, and distant. 

Sutton. A little clearer this time. 

“Sutton!” 

Sutton jerks awake to Fox’s chipper voice, wincing hard as their head swims. The first thing they see when their vision clears is a masked Frogger crouching beside the bed and Fox leaning over his shoulder to grin at them. 

“You’re awake!” Fox informs them, helpfully. 

“Unfortunately…” 

Frogger holds up a banana. “We need to leave.” 

“ _ Mmkay _ .” Slow and pained, they take the banana. 

Fox prances away as Frogger stands, and Sutton sits up. They stare at the banana while the cogs grind in their skull, hair sticking up at odd angles. Wolf continues an argument with Frogger.

“I just want  _ one. _ ” 

“After.” 

Wolf groans. Sutton’s eyes widen. 

“This is a banana!” Sutton says, whipping around to find Frogger. Wolf is leaning against the counter, grumpy, while Fox pats her arm sympathetically. Frogger’s digging through a drawer in his closet.

“...Yes.” He slides a knife into the holster on his thigh. 

“Where’d you get a banana?”

He pulls another knife out of the drawer. “I bought it.” 

“It’s good!” Fox adds, brightly. 

Wolf grumbles. 

“Sorry.” 

Sutton stands.

“I know what it tastes like, I just don’t-” Sutton wobbles, and takes a moment to reassert their grip on reality. “ _ Mm _ ...uh, they’re very expensive.”

Frogger shrugs, stepping out the front door. “I get by.” 

Wolf follows him out the door, while Fox takes the banana from Sutton’s hand and peels it,  _ carefully _ . She hands it back to them with a grin. 

“That’s how you open it.”

“...Thanks.” Sutton smiles, stifling a laugh. 

Fox takes Suttons hand and leads them to the door. “Frogger said you can eat it with the peel, but I tried it, and it was super gross, so I don’t think you’d like it. I only got through one bite. Frogger ate the  _ whole thing,  _ ‘cause it’s wasteful he said, but I think it’s a waste to eat something that  _ could  _ be good in a way that’s  _ gross,  _ but I guess he likes it. I didn’t like it-” 

Sutton takes a bite of the banana and lets themself be pulled out the door by a cheery, rambling Fox. 


	6. Working Conditions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNINGS AT THE END OF CHAPTER

**FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2270**   
**10AM**   
**A1, OLD MIAMI - ATLANTIS**   
**MASQUERADE**

Reed is sitting on the counter in the shop, arguing with Tilly, when Frogger leads them through the front door. He doesn’t blink, heading right for the backroom, but Sutton’s eyes catch on Reed before trying to find anything else to look at. 

“-en they should’ve come with the first batch!” 

“Some didn’t really have the option.” 

“Look, I can’t keep delaying and rerouting shipments. How about you and _your angel_ take them there?”

“You know that isn’t possible.”

“Do I? Do I know that? All _I_ know is I’ve been very generous with my time and resources, and…” Reed notices Frogger and the lot, and hops off the counter. “And as much as I _love_ your nagging, I’ve got work to do.” 

Tilly smiles at him. “I can wait.”

“You do that,” he says, walking away. 

* * *

Frogger leans in the waiting room doorway as Jay preps Wolf, giving her the same rundown as Fox got, and Sutton hovers around the corners of the room anxiously. Reed’s halfway through the door when he realizes Jay is still prepping. He leans against the other side of the doorway instead. 

“You should stop wasting time.” Frogger says.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about.” 

“You, dragging your feet to annoy _another_ baron, over something you already plan on doing.”

Reed turns to look at him, brow raised. “How do you know I’m gonna do it? Can _you_ read minds now?” 

Frogger meets his gaze, level. “Then tell Tilly no so they can leave.” 

Reed turns back to Jay and Wolf with a huff, watching her get the IV. She winces, but is calm besides. 

“Everyone knows what you’re going to do, too.” 

_“Everyone knows what you’re going to do,”_ Reed mocks, pushing off the doorway. “You’re annoying. Do you have anything useful to tell me?”

Frogger thinks on that a moment. “...Same pocket of static in Boca Raton every Friday for the past month.” 

“Which means…” 

“I’m looking into it.” 

“Well, keep doing that.” Reed walks off. 

Sutton, who’d migrated to Wolf’s side for the IV, sees Reed coming and backs away, moving around and failing to discreetly make their way over to Frogger as he steps out of the room. 

“Where’re you going?” Sutton says, low, glancing back over their shoulder. 

“I have things to do.”

“But what about-”

“It’s fine, and even if it wasn’t, me being here doesn’t change anything.” 

“But you can protect us!”

“Not _physically.”_ Frogger pinches the bridge of his goggles. “And if you don’t trust me, I can’t protect you at all.” 

“I-” Sutton closes their mouth, frowning. They try again. “I just have some...doubts about the current _situation.”_

Their eyes drift back to Reed. Frogger’s mask whirs. 

“Look, I’ll come back tonight, and you can ask me _whatever_ you need to know to stay.” 

Sutton takes a long, deep breath. “...Okay.” 

“Did she go in yet!? Did I miss her?” 

Sutton gets out of the doorway just in time to avoid Fox, barreling into the waiting room. “ _Woah,_ slow down!”

“Wait, are there needles?” Fox comes up short, covering her eyes with both hands. 

Sutton smiles at her. “...No, there are no needles.” 

“Oh good!” She drops her hands and rushes over to Wolf, looking first to Jay. “Is she okay? Did it hurt?” 

She turns to Wolf, _serious._ “Did he drug you?”

Wolf looks confused. “...Not...yet?” 

Thell makes her way into the waiting room, watching after Fox with clear amusement. Sutton turns to say something to Frogger, but he’s already walking away, back towards the elevator. They sigh, and go plop down on the couch. 

**FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2270**   
**12PM**   
**A1, OLD MIAMI - ATLANTIS**   
**MASQUERADE**

Fox sits on a chair in front of Thell, who’s braiding her hair in cornrows. Sutton’s still on the couch, head in their hands. 

“Are you almost done? Can I see it yet?” 

Thell gives her a smile. “Not yet. We’ve still got the other half of your head to do.” 

“ _Aaaaah,_ I wanna see it _nooooow…_ ” Fox bounces in her chair. She looks to Sutton. “Does it look cool? Do they look like Jay’s?” 

Sutton blinks back into the room, and smiles at her partially braided hair. “They’re getting there.” 

Fox looks up at Thell as much as she can. “Do you braid anyone else’s hair?”

“I used to do Mak’s hair before she switched to dreads.”

“Have you ever braided Reed’s hair?” 

Sutton makes a face at his name. Thell catches it, but seems unbothered, instead laughing and smiling back down at Fox. 

“Something tells me he wouldn’t go for it.” 

Fox deflates a bit, a pout to her bottom lip. “...Can I watch your phone?” 

Thell reaches into her robes and hands it to her. Some historical channel plays, talking about the extinction of the ice caps. Sutton watches as she becomes engrossed, as Thell dotingly braids her hair. 

“...Why do you work for him?” 

“Hm?”

“You and Jay seem too nice to work for someone, uh…” Sutton shifts uncomfortably. “Criminal.” 

“Not much of a difference between splices and criminals, these days. Or any days, really,” she says, with a tilt of her head, then refocuses on braiding. “Hard to get a job that pays well when you’re less than livestock.” 

“...So it’s for money?” Sutton seems more confused by this.

Thell snorts. 

“The money certainly _helps,_ but…you get used to him.” She shrugs, giving them a soft look, with a touch of amusement. “Honestly, he’s mellowed out a lot.” 

Sutton is speechless at this concept, and there’s silence for a moment. 

“...You’re worried about being safe here.” 

Sutton seems pained to admit it to her. “Can you blame me?” 

“No...but I _can_ tell you that this is by far the safest place for the girls right now. There’s a reason we have all these splices hanging around…” She looks at Sutton, an unfaltering look in her eyes. “And none of us would let anything happen to them.” 

Sutton ruminates on this, leaning back on the couch. “...I haven’t...really seen any other kids around, splices at least.”

“There aren’t really any to see.” Thell says, sadly. 

“Lily said it was against the rules.” 

Sutton looks at Fox like they’d forgotten she could hear them. “What?” 

“We can’t have babies because God doesn’t like us.” 

Thell’s hands still. Sutton, slowly, gets off the couch and kneels in front of Fox. 

“Liliana told you God didn’t like you?”

“No, she didn’t believe in God, but the government does, so it’s against the rules.” She sets the phone down, and places her hands on her stomach, as if talking to it. “If you try, they take all the little babies away. They take _your_ babies, _and_ your baby’s babies, so shouldn’t try or you’ll lose all your babies.”

Silence. 

Sutton looks to Thell, but she continues to stare at her unmoving hands. She shakes her head, a slight movement. 

Sutton pulls Fox into a hug. Fox is surprised, seeming unsure why she’s getting the hug, but happily returning it. 

**FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2270  
8PM  
F9, BOCA RATON - LOW TIDE**

Several levels below the glittering face of The Nautilus and it’s line and bouncers, Frogger weaves through the red-light crowds, following a map overlay in his goggles. Soon, he leaves the crowds behind to duck into an access alley.

The alley leads into a network of concrete corridors, bare pipes along the ceilings and walls, occasional drop offs deeper down into the skeleton of the structure. He’s walking for several minutes before the murmur of voices can be heard, from a particularly open area in the network, likely for bulk deliveries. 

He peers down from the upper walkway to see a handful of people below. They’re armed, and leading a handful of bound and lethargic splices from one elevator into another. There’s two chimera by the receiving elevator, and before them stands a man in a hat and coat reminiscent of a distant world war, accented by an old fashioned gas mask. 

“ _As I’m aware, he was not on your original list,_ ” Outis says, through a chimera.

“Lists change.” Nimo shrugs. “I know your lot is a little divorced from Deep politics, but it is ever-evolving. This particular baron simply decided to become an issue later in the game. I would handle him myself, but...well, I do so admire your man’s work. Very thorough.” 

Frogger’s mask whirs. The silent chimera looks up suddenly, just as he pulls back from the walkway, into the corridor. It steps away from the elevator with a low, guttural _hiss_. 

_“We really don’t have time for petty squabbles, Captain.”_

“I assure you, it’s not _petty.”_ Nimo crosses his arms. “He makes a point to interfere with my business, and given the _nature_ of our arrangement, I would think this would warrant your _prompt_ attention.” 

_“Yes, I’m sure you would…”_

The silent chimera lumbers over to the stairs up to the walkway, climbing quickly, earning Nimo and the puppet’s attention. The corridor is empty when it arrives. 

“Probably just a beggar.” Nimo offers. 

“The chimera will take care of it.” The puppets turns to the full elevator. 

“What about The Prince?” 

The puppet pauses. “...Bring us more splices, then we’ll talk.” 

The elevator doors close. The silent chimera takes off down the corridor. 

* * *

Frogger runs through the gray, dingey service corridors, slowing to glance over his shoulder. He stops, mask whirring, shoulder heaving, and water can be heard dripping off somewhere in the far distance. He’s at an intersection, a dark corridor extending to his right. 

It’s broken light flickers on for a moment, over a large, hunched figure. Frogger turns from the left corridor just as the light goes out. 

He dodges back as the chimera launches out of the gloom, _screeching._ It catches his shoulder, slicing through his sleeve, and he backpedals. It rounds on him, grabbing his neck with one hand, and he’s up on his toes. 

Cracking his fingers, he grabs its arm as his gloves spark. It hisses, raising him higher, and he brings up his other, crackling hand, and tightens his grip. Smoke rises as it’s skin starts to sizzle. It releases, recoiling with a cry. 

Taking no time to regain his footing, he draws a small handgun, firing two, three times, but the shots disperse in flashes, inches from the chimera. It rushes, and he drops the gun, pulling the flexible blade from his thigh holster. With the press of a button on the hilt, it’s solid, and swinging up in an arc, across the chimera’s chest with a spray of black blood. 

He swings again, but it catches his wrist, holding tight and growling as it looms closer. He pulls a shorter knife tucked into his glove and swipes at it, catching it again. Hissing, it holds him away from itself, and crushes his wrist. 

The sound the modulator makes is garbled, and the flexible blade clatters to the ground. It reaches for him, holding him out at arm length. Legs pedaling in the air, he buries the short blade in its forearm, and twists. 

It throws him violently against the wall and a goggle lens cracks as he hits the ground. 

Disoriented, lens malfunctioning, he gets to his feet, unsteady, tries to run. The chimera pulls the knife from its arm, discards it, is off after him again. He turns just in time for it to rush him, but stumbles, falling back, and it’s clawing after him. 

A kick to it’s chest buys him a few steps, enough to pull a long blade from his boot and crawl back on his elbows. It rises, _hissing,_ and lunges. He raises the blade to block, and off goes a booming shot. 

There’s a hole, burst through the chimera’s helmet with a shatter of glass and ichor, sparks crawling along its breached force field like an aura. It stands for just a moment longer, and crumples to the ground. 

Nimo stands, lowering an old fashioned pistol. “You’re as nosey as ever.” 

Frogger stares at him, huffing whirs jittering through his mask. He shifts back, slightly, as Nimo approaches.

“Though I suppose I should be happy...you’re obviously following Impetus’ trail _very_ closely.” Nimo eyes the corpse as he passes, and looks down on Frogger. “Any progress on my request?” 

Frogger still rests back on one arm, the long blade still held up in semi-defensive position, now between him and Nimo. “...Minimal.” 

Nimo sighs, nudges the chimera with the toe of his shiny black shoes. “Shame…” 

Frogger shifts, looking at the chimera. “Why-” 

“It’s quite simple, actually.” He interjects, tucking an arm and placing a finger under his chin. He raises his hand, as if to gesture to the world, and circumstances, at large. “I’m not _entirely_ happy with my current position, and I think a little leverage could go a _long_ way in making me feel more...comfortable.” 

He gestures to Frogger. “I’m sure you understand the power leverage, it is your business after all. It can be a rather good shield…”

He looks at the chimera. “Sometimes.” 

“Other times, it’s good to have _actual_ power on your side.” He tucks his arms behind his back, tilting his head down at Frogger. “That’s usually where I come in.” 

Frogger’s mask whirs loudly in his silence. 

Nimo seems….amused. He leans forward, bending at the waist, looming further. 

“...You’re still thinking.” He stands up straight. “Let me know when you’re done. When you make the right decision, you know where to find me.” 

He walks away. Frogger watches Nimo’s back till it’s gone, then lays down with a _whirring_ sigh, chest heaving as he spends a moment staring at the ceiling. 

Eventually, he rolls onto his side, drawing his arms and legs in with an effort and stays there, on the ground, for several more moments. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNINGS:  
>  \- Abduction  
>  \- Referenced non-consensual drug use  
>  \- Knife violence  
>  \- Gun violence


	7. Precedence

**FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2270**   
**4PM**   
**A1, OLD MIAMI - ATLANTIS**   
**MASQUERADE**

Sutton, Jay, and Fox all sit on the couch. Fox sits in Sutton’s lap with her hair all braided in neat cornrows, watching Jay write on a tablet. Wolf reclines in the procedure chair, sleeping under a blanket. He shows Fox the tablet, reading ‘Femi ETC Vulpis,’ then passes it to her. She tries to repeat his movements, tip of her tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth. Sutton watches over her shoulder as she carefully moves the stylus, expression heavy. 

Fox turns the tablet around to show Jay her awful  _ but  _ legible attempt. He grins. 

“You’re getting better.” 

Fox beams, and then turns as the waiting room door opens and Thell comes in. Jay adjusts on the couch and she sits beside him, putting her arm around him as he leans into her comfortably. 

“What’re you two up to?” She asks. 

“Jay’s helping me write my name.” Fox shows Thell. “I’m really good.” 

“ _ Very  _ good.” 

“I like this better than letters.” 

“Well, your name is made up of letters.” 

Fox makes doubtful noise, then blinks like she’s remembered something. 

“Jay, do you braid Thell’s hair for her?” 

Thell gives her a rueful smile. “Sadly, no.” 

“How come? Do you not like braids?” 

“I would  _ love  _ braids, but you need hair for that.” 

Fox frowns. “Are you bald?” 

Sutton looks abashed. “Fox-”

“No, no she’s fine.” Thell waives them off, good-natured. She looks at Fox warmly. “Not exactly, but given my splice, what I do have is not really suited for braiding.” 

“Ah...what’s yours?”

“Lyrebird.” 

“Jay can change color. Can you change color?” 

Jay laughs. “No, but she can do something just as fun, and probably more useful.” 

“You think so, but Reed usually just tells me to  _ knock it the hell off. _ ” Her voice shifts, and out comes Reed’s. Fox’s eyes go wide with awe, and Sutton blinks in surprise. 

Jay gives her an amused, knowing look. “That’s usually because you’re making fun of him.” 

“I would never,” She says, innocently. “I merely believe he could benefit from hearing himself speak sometimes. The rest of us have to.” 

Jay snorts.

“That’s  _ so  _ cool!” Fox’s eyes are sparkling, and Thell laughs. Sutton smiles at Fox, then glances at Thell and Jay. 

“...How long have you two been together?” 

“Our entire lives.”

“No.” Thell laughs. 

Jay shrugs. “Might as well be.” 

“I’m older than you, that doesn’t work.” 

“Lab years don’t count.” 

“I suppose it does feel that way…” Her expression is distant for a moment, then she turns to Sutton. “We’re both from CoWER.” 

“The military one?”

“Private, actually, but it had a lot of military contracts. It was one of the more protested labs, which is unsurprising.”

“Yeah, well,  _ weaponized eugenics  _ kind of screams monster factory.” 

“Hm…” Sutton smiles without any heart. “So you met in the lab?”

“We’d seen each other occasionally in those years, but we were only able to speak to each other after reaching the integration centers. So...we’ve been together about five years.” She holds out her hand, showing off a gold, intricately carved band around her finger. “We’ve had the rings for two.” 

“It’s beautiful.” 

“Yes.” Thell fiddles with it, fondly. “Jay designed them.” 

“It was a team effort.” 

“Yes, if you call  _ I like gold  _ an effort.” 

“I didn’t know splices could get married…” Sutton’s still looking at the ring when they say it, an absentminded thought that has them looking up apologetically. “I mean-”

“No, you’re right.” Thell shrugs. “It’s  _ legally  _ impossible, but we’re in the system.” 

“How?” 

“ _ Illegally.”  _ Thell laughs. “Living with someone who forges identities has its benefits.” 

“If anyone actually  _ looked  _ at our documents, I’m sure they’d be  _ very  _ confused.”

Reed walks past the open waiting room door, muttering to himself, dressed in a formal suit with hair slicked back, and usual sunglasses in place. He stops, backs up, and leans through the doorway. “Have you seen my cufflinks?” 

Sutton sinks into the couch as Thell glances back at him. “Which ones?” 

“Blue ones.” 

“ _ Which _ blue ones.” 

Reed rolls his eyes. “Marquise, with the sapphires.” 

“Dresser?” 

“I checked the dresser” 

“Both?” 

“Yes, both.” He frowns, exasperated. “Why would I ask if I hadn’t already-no, they’re not there.” 

“Did you leave them by the pool?” Jay offers. 

“You have a pool?” Fox  _ stares  _ at Jay. 

“Yup.”

“When would I have…” Reed stops, thinking for a moment. “Okay, maybe.” 

Fox leans over the back of the couch. “Can I try the pool?” 

Reed raises a brow at her, and Sutton  _ winces.  _

“Probably not.” He gives a humorless smile. “I’m pretty sure Intern here wants you all out as soon as possible.” 

“No, but Frogger said we’re staying,” Fox is despairing. She turns to Sutton. “Right?” 

Sutton tries to disappear into the cushions as the attention turns to her, Thell and Jay giving them a hopeful look. 

“You’re staying?” Thell asks. 

“...Yeah.”

“Well isn’t  _ that  _ a surprise.” Reed steps into the room. He leans on the back of the couch and grins down at Sutton. “I thought I was too dangerous.” 

Sutton glares, face like they’ve tasted something rotten. “...Frogger said it’s safe here, a-and I trust him.” 

“Interesting choice.” Reed smirks, stepping away from the couch and leaving the room. “He’s right, though.” 

Thell leans to Sutton. “If it makes you feel any better, he won’t be won’t be here for most of the night. He’s got to  _ suck up to some rich assholes. _ ” 

“I’m doing this for you!” Reed yells, and the liftgate slams. 

Thell and Jay chuckle as Fox giggles and Sutton actually manages a snicker. They sigh in its wake. 

“He’s speaking to a potential buyer, at a  _ soiree  _ where there might be more. The buyer asked for an appearance, and that rarely means mine.” 

“Hm.” Sutton mulls over this simultaneously benign admittance with _very illegal,_ far reaching implications. They decide not to think too hard on it, concern shifting elsewhere. “...Is it really okay for us to stay here? I mean, I don’t know if Frogger’s been paying you, but-” 

“Of course it’s okay, we love having you. The girls are lovely.”

Jay seems amused by the intensity of Thell’s response.

“Does this mean I can use the pool?” Fox asks. 

“...Sure.” Sutton sighs. 

“ _ Yes.”  _ She throws her hands into the air. Wolf groans, pulling Fox’s attention. 

“Wolf!” She hops off the couch, running to Wolf’s side. “Wolf! Wolf! You’re awake! Look at my hair!”

She almost collides with the chair in her enthusiasm, bouncing up and down at Wolf’s arm. Wolf gives her groggy smile, and nods. 

“...Nice.” 

“Maybe we could braid your hair too. Oh! Reed told us your name, do you remember?” 

Wolf shakes her head. 

“Mina! It’s Mina E T C Lupus. Lupus means wolf, so it’s almost the same as before, and we’re both ETC. Thell was telling me about Mina, it’s spelt m-i-n-a, but it’s different from the one I got because it’s Korean, so if you’re being formal you use different letters, or...characters. They’re different because they...um…” 

Fox glances up as Thell joins her beside Wolf. 

“They have meanings instead of noises?” Fox asks.

Thell nods, adjusting Wolf’s blanket. Fox takes her hand and starts tracing over her palm. 

“Jay showed me yours and it’s cool, it has a lot of lines like this...or...wait, it might be…” She turns. “Jay, what did Wolf’s name look like?” 

Jay gets up and goes over to the girls with the tablet. 

* * *

Reed steps out of this closet in the hallway under the mezzanine, and pauses, looking out into the dim sitting area. 

“Oh,  _ great,  _ you’re still here.”

Tilly sits comfortably in the loveseat in the middle of Reed’s room. 

“How the hell’d you even get in my room?” 

They shrug. “You don’t make it hard.” 

“Damn snoops…” Reed rolls his eyes, walking around Tilly to his desk. He glances around the surface, frowning. “Look, I’ve got places to be-” 

They hold up Reed’s phone. “Fishing for politicians who won’t bite.” 

Reed glares as he approaches. 

“What a  _ good way  _ to  _ maybe  _ fix the problem…” 

“It’s not my problem to fix.” Reed snatches the phone and makes for the elevator. Tilly sighs, rolling their eyes. 

“Florida statute twenty-eight, section four, subsection five A, allows the public health department to order the destruction of animals with a disease transmissible to humans.” 

Reed’s hand rests on the grate. “...What’s that got to do with anything?”

“That’s what splices are, right? Legally, at least. Imagine how easy it’d be for them to give that order once splices are all nice and penned. The purist have wanted to for  _ years,  _ and every second the nd’s body count rises…” They hold up a hand, two fingers approaching each other. “The public gets a  _ little  _ more fanatical.”

They stand, turning to look at Reed. “Even if they  _ don’t _ kill them, when will they get out? A week? A month?  _ Years? _ ”

“There’s really no telling, and no one willing to get them out ‘the right way,’ and how can you blame them?” They shrug, approaching at his elbow. “It’s hard to make a case for a defendant with no rights.” 

Reed looks at them, finally. 

“...We don’t expect you to help, but we are asking.” 

Reed snorts, glancing up to the ceiling, then down to his feet. “The lines will be clear enough on Monday. Bring them then.” 

Reed opens the elevator, stepping inside as Tilly smirks. “How long did it take you to arrange that?”

He slams the grate...then smiles. “Like thirty minutes.” 

Tilly looks torn between irritated and amused.  _ “Really?”  _

Reed looks at his watchless wrist, mashing the elevator button. “Would you look at the time, I’ve got an appointment to get to.” 

He gives a little wave as the elevator lowers. “ _ Byyye!”  _

Tilly crosses their arms, shaking their head. 

**FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2270**   
**9PM**   
**A1, OLD MIAMI - ATLANTIS**   
**MASQUERADE**

Sutton lies on the bed in their room, staring at the ceiling. They jump when the door opens, and relax when they see it’s just Fox, wearing a bathing suit and wrapped in a towel, followed by a PJ-wearing Wolf. 

“Have fun?” Sutton asks, sitting up. 

Fox, huddled into her towel, walks into the closet at the far end of the room. “Yes! I don’t know how to swim!” 

“Oh…” Sutton look at Wolf.

“Jay helped her.” 

Sutton nods as Wolf goes to sit on the bottom bunk of the other bed. 

“You didn’t want to swim?” 

Wolf just points to the bandages on her temples. 

“ _ Ah,  _ right…” 

Fox rustles around in the closet. 

“You better now?” Wolf asks.

“What?”

“You were...weird last night.” 

Sutton looks embarrassed. “Oh. Yeah...I’m fine, I just, uh...took something I shouldn’t have.” 

Wolf nods, watching her feet. “...Is Frogger coming back?” 

“He said he would, sometime tonight…” Sutton stands. “I’m gonna go talk to Thell.” 

Wolf nods again as Sutton leaves, then sniffs the air, looking over at Fox, who has emerged in her own pajamas. 

“You need to shower.” 

Fox makes a face. “ _ Why?”  _

“You smell like pool.” 

“But I just put this on!”

Wolf stands, going to her. “You stink.” 

“You stink!” she retorts, defiantly holding her ground. 

* * *

Behind the unmanned counter of the shop, the door to the office sits open. Thell’s inside, at a darkwood desk, reading. The room is warmly lit, and split between what looks like an accountant's desk and an electronic drafting table, drawings and sketches of various masks pinned to the walls of that half of the room. Sutton eyes them, for the moment it takes Thell to notice their entrance. 

“Sutton, how can I help you?” 

They turn away from the drawings. “I was just, uh, wondering if I could use your phone.” 

Thell sets her books aside. “You don’t have one?” 

They laugh, cheeks red. “No, I, um...kind of threw it off a bridge a while ago. Haven’t gotten around to getting a new one.” 

“I suppose it’s not unusual for our clients to ditch their phones…” She pulls hers out of her dark gown, holding it out. 

“Thank you.” Sutton takes it, and stares blankly at it for a moment. “...You...wouldn’t happen to have Frogger’s number, would you?” 

“He’s in my contacts.” 

“Right…” Sutton finds his icon, hits call and puts the phone to their ear, foot tapping slightly. 

The call connects. 

_ “Wh-t?”  _

“Frogger. Hi.” 

_ “-tton? Can this wa-”  _ the audio stutters, cutting out. 

“Hello? Can you understand me?” 

_ “Yes, but I--trouble and ca--my place. Don’t- _ **_shi-_ ** _ ”  _ There’s the sound of clattering, and the phone disconnects. 

“Frogger? Hello?” 

They pull the phone from their ear, awarded a ‘call dropped’ screen, and turn to Thell with concern. 

She frowns. “What’s wrong?” 

“I think something happened to Frogger…” They hand the phone back. “He mentioned his place, I think maybe, uh...I’m gonna go see if he’s alright.” 

Her lips thin. “Are you sure that’s the smartest thing to do? Frogger is rather capable, and he seems  _ particularly  _ bothered by you going off on your own.” 

“I mean, I’m not really going  _ off,  _ more like going  _ to  _ him, so...not exactly on my own.” 

“I doubt he’ll see it  _ quite  _ that way,” she says, with a breath of amusement. 

“He mentioned trouble.” 

Thell sighs, crossing her arms, placing the nail of her thumb between her teeth. “...I’m not going to stop you. If he  _ is  _ hurt, please bring him here. He can be stubborn, but we can get him sorted out.” 

Sutton nods, turning to go. They pause, hand on the doorframe, and turn back. “Would you...mind keeping an eye on the girls for me?” 

Her gaze is intent. “Of course.” 

Another nod, and they’re out of the office. 


	8. Old Wounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNINGS IN END NOTES

**FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2270**   
**10PM B3, KEY LARGO - THE REEF**   
**SOUND TOWER APARTMENTS**

Sutton stands before Frogger’s apartment door, bouncing on their toes and wiping their hands on their pants. They glance up the hallway, down the hallway, and back to the door, deflating with a sigh. 

“What am I doing…” 

They raise their hand to ring the bell, when the neighboring apartment door opens, and an ornery man steps out. Sutton jumps a little, flinching a half step, catching the man’s attention.

“Who’re you?” He glares at them. 

“ _ Uhh… _ ” They stand up straight. “Who’s asking?” 

The man snorts, stepping closer. Sutton, in turn, steps back. In a grungy shirt and worn LEAF mask, he gives Frogger’s door a pointed, disdainful once-over. “You know this thing?” 

Sutton stops. “What.” 

“The  _ thing  _ that lives here, you know it?” 

“I know  _ him,  _ what’s it to you?” 

“Just a concerned citizen, is all, keepin’ an eye out for  _ his  _ type,” he sneers. He regards Sutton carefully, looking for something, anything, different about them. “Not safe having diseased  _ mutts  _ hangin’ around.” 

Sutton seems more surprised about their fist contacting his face than he does, but he is definitely more angry about it. 

“ _ Bitch!”  _ The man grabs them by their hair, forcing them back against the wall. Sutton’s hands fly to his wrists, hovering defensively in front of their face as he rears back an arm. 

“Hit them, and you’ll be arrested for money laundering.” 

“How did you-” the man holds the punch, turning in agitated shock as Frogger, trudging down the hallway, passes behind him with a shattered chimeran helmet under his arm. Frogger cracks his knuckles and touches the man’s neck with sparking fingers. 

The man seizes, collapses, and Sutton starts breathing again. 

“Come on.” Frogger’s already scanning into his apartment. “Lucas.” 

Lucas leans further around the end of the hall. “ _ Aye,  _ Frogger. Ya look like shit.” 

“ _ Mhm _ …” Frogger steps inside, setting the helmet down on the counter.

“T-thanks for, uh, for that…” They rub their arm, looking awkwardly around the apartment as they enter. 

“Don’t mention it.” He closes the door behind them. 

Sutton notices the helmet, spattered with black blood. “What’s that?”

“A parting gift.” Frogger walks around them, pulling off his goggles, revealing a ringed cut and bruise around his left eye. He examines the broken lens as he pulls down his masks. He tosses both onto the table. “What’re you doing here?” 

“Well, I-you-your phone, uh…” 

Frogger shrugs, unclipping the bag at his hip, adding it to pile on the table. 

“You mentioned trouble, Thell was worried, so I-”

Frogger pulls off his left glove with a hiss and Sutton blinks. 

“Oh god, you’re bleeding!” 

He slides the coat off his shoulder with difficulty. “Was bleeding, stopped now.” 

“That’s a lot of blood…” They approach him tentatively. 

He peels the sleeve off the dried blood with a wince. “It’s not serious. Could we get back to-”

“What happened?” 

Frogger sighs, tossing the coat on the table with everything else. “...I got scratched.”

_ “Scratched?”  _

Frogger moves to the bathroom, opening the mirror and knocking various medical items into the sink. Sutton follows.

“By  _ what?  _ And w-what happened to your face?” They come up short in the doorway. “Your face…” 

“Sutton, can you just-” Frogger frowns as Sutton reaches into the cabinet. “What are you doing?”

They pull out a disinfectant. “It needs to be cleaned.” 

“ _ Obviously.  _ What are  _ you  _ doing?”

Their expression is flat. “Helping.” 

“I’d prefer you didn’t.” He reaches for the bottle in their hand.

They move it away. “It’ll be easier if someone else does it.”

“Sutton, leave.” 

“No.” 

Frogger is tired, exasperated, face like his soul has already left his body, and he’s just waiting for the lag to catch up. “No?”

“Either you let me help, or-or I drag you back to Masquerade like Thell asked. Which I could probably do right now, because you look like you’re about to fall over.” 

Frogger glares at them for several seconds, then closes the cabinet with a short, sharp sigh. “...Fine.” 

Sutton brightens a little. “Oh, really? Okay, uh-” 

“Grab what’s in the sink.” 

He leaves them in the bathroom, going to the closet and opening a drawer. He pulls out a pair of scissors and tries to cut the hem of his shirt. Sutton comes out with an arm full of first aid junk and dumps it on the table. “What’re you doing?”

“I’m not getting this over my head.”

They hold out their hand. “Here.” 

Looking more tired than anything, he hands over the scissors. They finish cutting the shirt front, gently pulling the non-bloody sleeve off. “There, now just-”

Frogger yanks the bloody sleeve off with a wince, and tosses it into a chute in the closet. 

“...You’re going to open it up again.” 

“Needs to be cleaned anyway.” He unzips the neck of his wetsuit down to his waist, leaving him in his chest binder. 

Sutton follows him to the table with a sigh, then notices the darkening marks around his neck as the wetsuit collar dips, their face shifting to concern. As he pulls his swollen wrist out with difficulty, they note the deep bruises across his back. He sits down on the bench and reaches for his other shoulder. 

They shoo his hand away. “I got it.” 

The four gashes bleed again as they peel off the sleeve from his shoulder. He winces, shifting so they can pull it off the rest of the way. There’s a red, stained tint fading down his arm.

Pale bands of scar tissue circle his elbow and upper arm, matching the ones on the wrist and forearm of his other arm. Sutton’s eyes flicker to his face. He continues to stare down at the bench. 

“You have rags?” They ask. 

“Drawer near the fridge.” 

They wash their hands, then wet a rag in the sink, pausing before stepping away from the fridge. They open it, grabbing a nutripak, which they hand to him. 

“Hold this on your eye.” 

He does, and they wipe down his arm.

“So…” They wait for him to look at them. “Can I ask my questions now?” 

Frogger snorts. “You left.” 

“And you never showed, so...new deal. Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll stay in Atlantis from now on.” 

He rolls his eyes, and holds out his good hand. Sutton smiles with an amused breath, and shakes it. 

“Okay…” They go back to wiping. “What did this to your arm?”

“...A chimera.” 

“A-How did you- _ why? _ ”

He sighs. “I was trying to find out how Impetus was getting the splices. They’re powerful, but not in manpower, and rarely interact with The Deep at all, so…”

“...So someone’s been helping them?” 

He nods. 

“Who?”

He gives them a withering look from the corner of his eye.

“C’mon, who am I gonna tell?” 

“...Nimo’s a newer baron, only been here a couple years, but he’s...ambitious would be an understatement.”

“Does he have a turf or a market?”

He pauses to frown. “...Turf. He runs a nightclub, The Nautilus.” 

“...My roommate went there once, said it was shifty. She met some guy who drugged her and said not to come back.” They blink in realization. “Do you think he worked for Nimo?” 

“...Probably.” 

Their frown deepens. “If Nimo’s in Low Tide, and Reed’s in Atlantis, why’s he want to kill him?” 

He sighs, heavily. “Because Reed likes to cause problems.” 

“That’s...not surprising.” They pick up the disinfectant and a sterile pad, holding it under the cuts as they pour the solution over them. “Is he the one who kidnapped the girls?” 

“Probably,” he says, wincing. 

They nod, more to themself than anything, and dab the wound dry. They spray an ointment over his shoulder, and apply a large bandage. 

Appraising their work, they lean back in their seat. “How did you know Impetus was using GlowWorm to test the suppressant.” 

He takes the nutripak off his eye and tries to open it. “They killed six drug barons in High Water in as many months.”

They take the pak from him, open it, and hand it back. 

“...GlowWorm showed up around the same time, and  _ isn’t  _ dead.” He shrugs. “Users who caught the nd stalled in the first stage, consistently.”

“It...made less sense when they started killing pimps and mercenaries, but that was around the time Nimo…” He frowns at the nutripak. “I should’ve put that together.” 

There’s silence for a moment as Frogger starts eating the nutripak. Sutton hums, brow furrowed, and picks up some gauze, turning it over in their hands. 

“...You should take a cold shower.” 

His smile is slight and crooked. “Do I smell?”

“You’ve got  _ a lot  _ of bruises.” They set the gauze down, looking off in the distance, trying to recall…

”They need to be iced, then compressed, but icing your whole back would be kind of difficult, so...cold shower might work.” 

“Lovely.” He stands with  _ enthusiasm.  _

“Go for twenty minutes, as cold as you can.” 

“You’re the doctor.” He waves dismissively over his shoulder. “There’s food in the fridge.” 

“Not really a-” the bathroom door closes, and they slump against the table. “...Doctor. Yeah, obviously, okay…” 

Their stomach growls and they turn their attention to the fridge.

* * *

Sutton’s asleep beside an apple core when Frogger gets out of the bathroom, hair dripping on his loose shirt, his old clothes wadded in his hands. He tosses them in the washer, above the trash chute in the closet, and grabs a pen-like tool from the top drawer. Taking his gloves and raincoat off the table, he rinses red blood and black ichor down the sink. 

He drapes the gloves over the facet, then uses a rag to dry around the slices in his raincoat. He clicks the not-pen, the tip glows, and he runs it over the holes, held closed. They seal with a faint seam. That done, he hangs it in the closet, and returns to the chimera’s helmet. 

He pulls out the forearm, thigh, and shin blades, setting them in the sink, followed by three large rings, coated in thick black blood. They bend in a segmented fashion in his hands.

The rings turn pale as he rinses them, the same shade the chimera’s outfit had been.

* * *

Frogger’s fiddling with his goggles when Sutton jerks awake. 

“ _ I’m up!  _ I’m awake.” They look around, finding Frogger. “What?”

He sets aside the cracked goggle lens. “Have a nice nap?” 

They groan, rubbing their face and covering a yawn. Frogger picks up a fresh goggle lens. They watch as he screws it in. “We need to wrap your bruises.” 

“Mhm…”

“You probably shouldn’t be doing that right now.” 

He shrugs, and winces at a turn of his wrist. 

They hold out their hand. “Come on…” 

He puts the goggles down with a sigh, turning to face them. As Sutton gingerly wraps his wrist, he picks up one of the pale rings, on the table beside the goggles and toolkit. 

“What’s that?” 

“Magcuff.” 

“It’s bigger than the ones cops have…” 

“It’s...a different brand. Illegal, specifically made for controlling splices.” He holds it up for them to see better. “This one’s a choker.” 

He points over to his desk, where the two other cuffs sit, plugged into his computer with a program running. “Those are the wristlinks.” 

“...It locks the wrists to the neck?” 

“ _ Mhm. _ ”  He picks up a flathead screwdriver, wedging it into a seam on the choker. “It’s also a failsafe. It can be activated to close off the airways, either on command…”

A little panel pops off, exposing the choker’s wiring, and it shrinks, segments going rigid. Simultaneously, the wrist links on the desk rattle together. “Or automatically, if tampered with.” 

“...Where’d you get them?” 

“The chimera.” 

“And you’re…” 

“Making a universal remote.” 

They blink. “You can do that?” 

“If you have the signal codes. It helps to know the manufacturer.” He sets the choker aside, and picks up with goggles. 

“Do you?” 

He clicks a button on the side of his goggles, and all three magcuffs open with a  _ click.  _ He sets the goggles aside. “...I’m familiar with their work.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNINGS:  
>  \- First aid  
>  \- Cuts and bruises  
>  \- Scars  
>  \- Referenced child abuse


	9. Restraint

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNINGS IN END NOTES

**SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 2270**   
**12PM**   
**A1, OLD MIAMI - ATLANTIS**   
**MASQUERADE**

Thell and Reed stand under the warehouse overhang, speaking quietly as even more boxes are shifted around the crowded space. The backroom door opens, drawing their attention, and in steps Frogger. 

“Frog Legs, glad to see you’re not dead.” Reed offers, before turning back to field a question from a frazzled looking splice. Thell turns.

“Are you alright?” She asks, approaching.

Frogger slows. “More or less.” 

Thell looks him over, nodding slowly, and glances behind him. “Is Sutton with you?” 

He stops, and turns partially to the door. “Sutton.” 

“Yes? What? Are you okay?” They stop hovering in the doorway, stepping fully into the warehouse.

“Thell wants you.” He nods to Thell, and walks over to Reed. 

Sutton approaches, hesitantly. “Oh, uh, okay.” 

“If you’ll wait here a moment, I need to go grab it.” Thell smiles at them, then disappears down one of the aisles. Sutton stands there, eyeing Reed with hesitance as he finishes explaining something to the frazzled splice and turns to Frogger. 

He frowns at Frogger’s like he’s been offended. “What’s going on with your neck.” 

“...Bruises.” 

“What happened?” 

“Got thrown into a wall.” 

Reed raises a brow. “That it?”

“More or less. Listen-”

“That’s wrong.” He points disdainfully at the bandages rising up past Frogger’s collar. “Do you have those on your chest too?”

Frogger shrugs and Reed sighs dramatically. 

“Go take them off.” 

Frogger’s posture screams  _ I’m rolling my eyes at you  _ as he walks away. 

“And don’t slouch!” 

Reed turns back to watch the shifting crates, while Sutton stands, looking the way Frogger went, rubbing their arm.

“...You... _ don’t  _ bind contusions?”

“No, you do. Unless they’re on your ribs, ‘cause that’s just _asking_ for pneumonia.” 

“I...it was more his back, than his ribs…”

“Same difference.” He turns to them. “Did he hit his head?” 

“Um, I...wasn’t there.”

Reed rolls his eyes. “You were with him after, right? Did he seem out of it?”

Sutton looks unsure. “ _ Maybe? _ His goggles were cracked.”

Reed whistles, almost like he’s impressed. “ _ Shit,  _ those things don’t break easy…” 

He watches where Frogger disappeared, going over as soon as he reappears. Sutton watches as they start talking. Reed reaches for Frogger’s mask, and Frogger swats his hands away, the two clearly bickering. 

Thell returns with a small box, which she hands to Sutton.

“What’s this?” they ask, looking it over. 

“A phone, to replace the one you...threw.”

“Wow, uh…” The smile Sutton gives her is surprised but grateful. “Thank you.” 

Thell smiles back. 

Reed storms past them, cracking open a nearby crate. 

Frogger trails after him. “That won’t help.”

“Can’t be a kidnapper if you’re dead.” 

Frogger rejoins Thell and Sutton, and Thell lets out a very long sigh. “What are you doing?” 

“Killing Nimo.” He pulls a very large gun. 

“Reed, please.” She gestures to the movement in the warehouse. “We have things to do.” 

“I’ll be quick.” He cocks the gun, salutes the three of them, and struts off, deeper into the warehouse. 

Sutton looks from Reed’s shrinking form, to the crate, opening and closing their mouth. 

Thell turns to Frogger. “What did you tell him?” 

Frogger’s mask whirs loudly.

“Sutton!” 

Sutton turns, confused and still shell-shocked, just in time for Fox to barrel into them. They totter over, and collapse with the girl clinging to their midsection. Wolf trails on after, with Jay. 

“Hi,” Wolf greets Frogger.

“Where’s Reed?” Jay asks Thell. 

Thell throws up her hands.

**SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 2270**   
**1PM - STORMING, POST-STORM**   
**F9, BOCA RATON - LOW TIDE**   
**THE NAUTILUS**

Reed brazenly strolls through Low Tide, hood up and mask glowing as he bares down on The Nautilus. He pauses as sirens sound behind him, turning to see a couple officers exiting a police cruiser, red and blue lights flashing. He tosses the gun over the railing.

* * *

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.” says the officer slapping magcuffs on Reed’s wrists. 

“But  _ why  _ are you  **_here_ ** ? Reed asks the sky, exasperated. 

The second officer looks over a tablet. “You’re in violation of your restraining order.” 

“My  _ what!? _ ”

A crowd has gathered, being fed by the line from The Nautilus, and they part for Nimo, in a simple, shiny mask and tailored suit. 

“What restraining order?” 

“What seems to be the problem, officers?”

Reed whirls on him. “You _ slimy _ bag of  **_dicks_ ** .” 

Nimo raises a brow as the officer yanks on Reed’s cuffs. “Quiet!”

“This is  _ cheating _ ,” Reed sneers. 

“Sorry to bother you, sir,” says the officer with the tablet. “We got a warning that Mr. De La Rosa here was within a hundred yards of your establishment.” 

_ “Ugggggh!” _

“What’d I just say!” 

The officer continues, ignoring Reed and his colleague. “Would you like to file a report?”

“I can’t believe this…” 

“That won’t be necessary.” Nimo smirks at Reed. “He’s probably just had too much to drink. Again.” 

Reed tries to kick him. “Aye, screw you!”

Nimo steps back with a long-suffering sigh, stepping close to the officer with the tablet, speaking low. “Why don’t you just take him for a ride around the block, help him clear his head.”

“Sounds good, sir.” He turns to his partner. “Come on, let these people enjoy their evening.” 

“Oh my  _ God!”  _ Reed yells, once-more, to the sky, as both officers drag him to the cruiser. 

Nimo calls after him, smug. “I’ll let Frogger know you stopped by.” 

**SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 2270**   
**1PM**   
**A1, OLD MIAMI - ATLANTIS**   
**MASQUERADE**

Sutton sits with the girls on the floor of the backroom, watching the TV. Thell reclines on the couch, arms crossed as she scowls through the screen, while Jay glances back at the warehouse door every few minutes. Frogger leans against the back wall, finger’s drumming on his arm. A message appears across his view. 

_ Did you know Nimo had a restraining order.  _

His mask whirs as he dismisses the message, pushing away from the wall. “Reed’s been arrested.” 

“ _ Fantastic.”  _ Thell sighs loudly, while Jay looks to Frogger with concern. 

“Tell him to call me when he gets back.” 

“I’ll be telling him something…” 

“Is he…” Sutton starts hesitantly. “Coming back?” 

“Why wouldn’t he?” Jay asks. 

“He kind of, uh...he kinda killed...people…” 

Jay starts to reply, but Frogger cuts in just before stepping out into the shop. “Different issue, he’ll be fine.” 

**SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 2270  
2PM - STORMING, POST-STORM  
SOMEWHERE IN LOW TIDE**

Reed, maskless and cuffed, stumbles in the back of the police cruiser, lip split. He manages to catch himself on the wall.

“...Okay,  _ look _ …” He works his jaw and stands up straight. “As  _ fun  _ as I’m sure this is, how about we wrap it up?”

The officer snorts, shaking out his hand and glancing back at the officer piloting. “What do you think? Should we call it a day?”

“I don’t know...” He looks over the cruiser’s interface. “Seems like a waste.” 

“If you two dickheads would just  _ listen… _ ” Reed pushes off the wall, dodging another punch. He regards the two officers with irritation. “I’m trying to offer you  _ money. _ ”

They both seem amused by this, the pilot openly laughing.

“Oh,  _ buddy,  _ I don’t think you understand. You pissed off a  _ baron… _ ” He gives a mocking shake of his head, stepping forward. “Get it? You’re not buying your way out of this one.” 

“I’m trying  _ real  _ hard to be nice here…” Reed dodges again, and headbutts him. 

The officer stumbles back with a cry, holding his nose, while the other scrambles out of the pilot seat, reaching for their holstered gun. 

“ _ First thing  _ you’ll want to get through your heads right now is I know  _ exactly  _ who Captain Asshole is.” Reed bares his teeth in annoyance, then takes a moment to recompose. “The second thing is I could  _ buy  _ and  _ sell  _ him.”

He gives each officer a pointed look. “ _ Get it?”  _

* * *

Reed steps out of the police cruiser onto a deserted walkway, rubbing his wrists, mask back on. He flips off the cruiser as it pulls away, and walks off. 

**SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2270**   
**3AM**   
**A1, OLD MIAMI - ATLANTIS**   
**MASQUERADE**

In the backroom, Sutton sleeps propped up against the foot of the couch, Wolf leaning into them while Fox lays across both their laps. Sutton blinks awake as a muffled conversation moves from the warehouse, blinking in confusion as the dark room is shot through with a yellow light from the door. 

“-was  _ stupid.  _ What if they’d been  _ smart  _ and just shot you?” Jay says, agitated. Sutton glances back to get a glimpse of what’s going on, but stops as it jostles the girls. 

“Well, they didn’t so win-win.” 

Sutton closes their eyes and pretends to still be asleep. 

“More like a lose-lose, when Nimo finds out they flipped.” 

Reed and Jay stop behind the couch. Reed crosses his arms. “Whatever, I’m back, not full of bullets, it’s fine.” 

“Is it?”

Reed pauses, glancing at Sutton, who’s holding  _ very  _ still. 

“It took you a long time to come back…”

Reed sighs, walking away. “If you’re going to chew me out, I’d rather do it in private.”

Sutton takes a relieved breath as the shop door closes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNINGS:  
>  \- The Police  
>  \- Fisticuffs


	10. Court Politics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNINGS IN END NOTES

**MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2270**   
**8AM**   
**CHAMPION**   
**CENTER OF WEAPONIZED EUGENICS RESEARCH**

The crowd in Champion is made up of earthy tones and pops of bright colors. Frogger makes his way through it with his head down, in a LEAF mask and plain gray coat, a turtleneck covering the bruises on his neck. Dark contact lenses hide his hourglass pupils, and the red pigment around his eyes is gone. He ducks into an access alley, and quickly moves through the building’s spine, pulling out a tablet as he approaches a back door. 

It opens to a service corridor. Frogger steps inside, stowing the tablet and glancing around the metal pipes and electrical wires. Eventually, he finds his way to a supply closet. Closing the door behind him, he takes off his jacket, revealing plain coveralls. 

He exits the supply closet with downcast eyes and a janitorial cart, passing a guard who pays him no mind. On the upper floors, he moves through the offices, emptying trash and sticking little devices to the computers of ones with nameplates of  _ CFO  _ and  _ COO.  _

He’s under the CEO’s desk, attaching one such device, when the office door opens. He freezes.

“-nderstand this is a pressing issue, but without results, we just can’t divert any more funds.”

A grumpy man in a nice suit enters, followed by a pleasant looking man, somewhat mousy with bright green eyes behind thin-wire spectacles. He smiles, calmly, at the grumpy man. 

“I assure you, everything we promised will be forthcoming,” Outis says, and Frogger blinks in surprise. “But  _ only  _ if you meet the project’s requirements.” 

“You expect a lot of faith for someone who-” 

Frogger stands, clutching a small trash can to his chest, and both men startle. 

“What are you doing here?” The CEO asks, annoyed. 

“...” Frogger holds out the trash can. “Trash.”

The CEO huffs, rolling his eyes. “Get out.” 

Frogger hurries for the door, glancing over at Outis, who smiles at him politely. He’s almost through the door when the CEO turns. 

“Hold on…” He looks Frogger over with a critical eye. “Mr. Bodi, what do you think of Mr…”

Frogger turns back around, reluctantly. “...Wells, sir.” 

The CEO turns to Outis, who’s regarding Frogger now with interest. “What do you think of Mr. Well’s presentation?” 

Frogger stiffens slightly, eyes flicking back to the CEO. Outis gives him a once over, noting the smudged concealer around Frogger’s eyes, and his polite smile quirks with amusement. “Seems acceptable to me.” 

The CEO gives a  _ long  _ sigh. “So you see nothing wrong with his blatant violation of dress code? Maybe we  _ do  _ need a new head for your department.” 

Outis turns to him, placid smile returning. “If you’re referring to his mask, I was attempting to be sensitive to level differences. 

The CEO snorts, moving to his desk. “What, are we employing swamp rats, now?”

Outis gives an easy shrug. “Cheaper labor.”

Attention turns back to Frogger, who continues to stand there with the trash can in his arms, glancing uneasily back towards the door. “What’re you standing around for?  _ Go. _ ”

Frogger hurries from the room, wide-eyed expression vanishing as soon as his back is turned. He dumps the trash in his cart, then regards the can. He looks at the office door, back to the can, and drops it in with the trash in the cart and pushes it away. 

He finds a building map near the elevator, and the office of  _ N.O. Bodi,  _ head of HR, two floors down.

* * *

  
He’s in and out of  _ Mr. Bodi’ _ s office quickly.

**MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2270**   
**1PM**   
**A1, OLD MIAMI - ATLANTIS**   
**MASQUERADE**

Sutton sits by the window in their room, watching people bustle around below, their expression bored as they rest their face on their hand on the windowsill. 

The door opens and Fox flounces in, followed by Wolf. 

“Oh, hey guys.” Sutton’s tone is flat, and they’re back to looking out the window. Fox glances at Wolf with concern, and Wolf just shrugs. Fox looks back to Sutton with determination, going to stand in front of them.

“Do you want to play a game?”

“...What game?” 

“Hide and seek! We’ll hide somewhere, and you’ll try to find us.” 

Sutton frowns. “Around...around the building?” 

“It’d be too easy to find us here.” Fox laughs. “Plus, you’d get to see more! It’s  _ really  _ cool…”

“I don’t know, we’re kind of guests...I wouldn’t want to end up somewhere we shouldn’t.” 

“Everyone goes everywhere...unless it’s locked.” Wolf sits on the bed, somewhat indifferent. “Then only some people go everywhere.” 

Sutton doesn’t look convinced.

“Please, Sutton?” Fox pulls on their arm. “ _ Pleeeeease please please please-” _

Sutton looks very tired, while Wolf cracks a little smile. 

* * *

Sutton stands in the middle of the room, their hands over their eyes. 

“Ninety-seven...ninety-eight...ninety-nine...one hundred!” They drop their hands. “Ready or not here I-they can’t hear me.” 

Sutton steps out of the room, glancing to the left and right before picking a way to wander.

* * *

Reed sits on a crate in the back of the warehouse, watching over a dozen splices climb into the modified hyperline, and more gather for their turn. He makes eye contact with Thell, who’s overseeing the crowd and talking with one of their warehouse workers. She makes a very pointed  _ I’m upset with you  _ face, and returns to her conversation. Reed sighs, rolling his eyes. 

Tilly hops up to sit on the crate next to him. “Good job not getting killed by crooked cops.” 

“Tilly. Lovely to see you.” He doesn’t look at her.

They smile. “That’s uncalled for. Not like I’m here to bend your arm or anything.” 

“Aren’t you?”

“No, actually, I came to give you a bit of a heads up.” 

“About what?” 

“You’ve got people going missing.” 

Reed rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I know.” 

“Not just splices.” They wait for him to turn. “Koshers have been disappearing across Atlantis for the past few weeks.”

They hop down off the crate. “Thought you’d wanna know.” 

Reed frowns at the ground as Tilly walks away, looking up before they’re out of sight. “This doesn’t make us even!” 

Tilly just waves over their head, good-naturedly. A commotion comes from the front of the warehouse, drawing his attention, with rising chants of “Murderer! Murderer!”

Reed deflates. “Ah, hell..” 

* * *

Sutton makes their way down Masquerades various floors. They find a large room full of all sorts of clothes; they push through the racks to see if the girls are behind them, sighing when they aren’t. 

They step out into a garden terrace, shielding their eyes from the artificial sun lamps. “What the hell…”

They walk up and down the isles of what appears to be a small movie theatre.

There’s what would be a sophisticated art gallery, if it weren’t so cluttered with marble busts and sculptures, display cases and paintings crowding the walls. Things are half in boxes still, few entirely unpacked. Sutton wanders around, dumbfounded and confused. 

They’re a little exasperated when they find the showroom featuring several well-kept, antique cars. By the time they’re under the high ceiling of the indoor pool, they’re just tired. “Well, at least I already knew about this one…”

A crowd clamours past the door. They step out into the hallway, catching the backs of people hurrying downstairs. Curious, they follow. 

* * *

Reed steps out of the elevator, into the backroom, dragging a struggling man behind him, bound and gagged. Reed’s face is flat, if a little annoyed, as he pulls him through the jeering crowd swarming around them, out into the shop.

Sutton descends the stairs, just catching the stream of people out of the backroom and through the front door. Jay watches from the counter, expression grim. He stands when he sees Sutton following out with the rest of them. “Sutton, wait-”

They don’t hear, trying to see through the crowd. It breaks over the steps, circling the man and Reed in the middle of the street. Sutton stops at the top of the stairs, near Mak, who leans against the doorframe, watching with a hard look on her face. 

There are more people out here, jeering, some forcing the man to kneel. Reed looks over the crowd, eyes sharing none of their fervor, then turns back to the man. 

Sutton jolts with the sound of the gunshot, fired between the man’s eyes. They stand, frozen, watching as his body crumples, and blood begins to pool. Jay comes out, pulling Mak’s attention from the scene as he gently guides Sutton back inside. 

Mak frowns at them. 

Reed steps back, turning away from the body and holstering his gun. The crowd parts for him as he heads back up the stairs, giving Mak his own hard look before stepping inside. 

Mak looks back to the crowd with another sigh. 

She pushes off the wall, clapping to get the people’s attention. “ALRIGHT, EVERYBODY, LET’S CLEAN THIS MESS UP!” 

Mak makes her way down the steps.

* * *

Sutton sits against the wall in their room, under the window, crying like they haven’t noticed. They stare through the other end of the room at some far distance, with a blanket around their shoulders and knees pulled to their chest. 

The door swings open. “Sutton, were you looking? Did we win?”

“Uh…” Sutton swipes the tears away, giving Fox an apologetic look. “Y-yeah, you won, um...S-sorry, I kind of, uh...I got distracted.”

Fox kneels beside them. “Are you okay?”

They adjust like they haven’t moved in hours. “Oh, y-y-I’m fine, it’s uh...it’s nothing.” 

Wolf stands at their feet, arms crossed. “Did something happen?” 

“Nope. No, no, nothing, uh, nothing.” They shake their head, almost violently. “It’s fine, and even if it wasn’t we’re only here till, uh…my procedure...” 

They go quiet, eyes locked on the ground. Fox wraps her arms around them, and they respond robotically, putting an arm around her and patting twice. Wolf frowns, and comes to sit at their other side. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNINGS:   
>  \- Classism  
>  \- Some real disrespect of important service positions  
>  \- Public execution


End file.
